The table provided here courtesy of Royal College of Nursing is the first in a series of lists of commonly encountered medical acronyms for UK medical organisations. The aim of this project is to provide a corpus of useful acronyms to provide a handy online reference for enquiry and cataloguing work for archivists in the field. Please feel free to suggest any other entries to the finding aid and we will upload them as soon as possible.
UK Medical Acronyms
| Acronym | Medical Organisations | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| ABA | An Bord Altranais - Southern Ireland Nursing Registration Board | Royal College of Nursing |
| AHC | Army Medical Corps | Royal College of Nursing |
| AMD | Army Medical Department | Royal College of Nursing |
| AMS | Army Medical Services | Royal College of Nursing |
| ANS | Army Nursing Service | Royal College of Nursing |
| ANA | American Nurses’ Association | Royal College of Nursing |
| AONS | Asian Oncology Nursing Society | Royal College of Nursing |
| BJN | British Journal of Nursing | Royal College of Nursing |
| BMA | British Medical Association | Royal College of Nursing |
| BMJ | British Medical Journal | Royal College of Nursing |
| BRCS | British Rec Cross Society | Royal College of Nursing |
| CHANNEL | Centre of Help and Advice for Newcomers to Nursing Education and Life in the UK | Royal College of Nursing |
| CMB | Central Midwives Board | Royal College of Nursing |
| CNF | Commonwealth Nurses Federation | Royal College of Nursing |
| CNMF | Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation | Royal College of Nursing |
| CNR | Civil Nursing Reserve | Royal College of Nursing |
| COHSE | Confederation of Health Service Employees | Royal College of Nursing |
| DES | Department of Education and Science | Royal College of Nursing |
| DHSS | Department of health and Social Security | Royal College of Nursing |
| EEC | European Economic Community | Royal College of Nursing |
| FANY | First Aid Nursing Yeomanry | Royal College of Nursing |
| GNC | General Nursing Council | Royal College of Nursing |
| GOC | General Officer Commanding | Royal College of Nursing |
| IANS | Indian Army Nursing Service | Royal College of Nursing |
| IANE | Institute of Advanced Nursing Education | Royal College of Nursing |
| ICCN | International Conference on Cancer Nursing | Royal College of Nursing |
| ICN | International Council of nurses | Royal College of Nursing |
| INO | Irish Nurses Organisation | Royal College of Nursing |
| MNA | Maternity Nursing Association | Royal College of Nursing |
| MO | medical officer | Royal College of Nursing |
| NALGO | National Association of Local Government Officers | Royal College of Nursing |
| NASEN | National Association of State Enrolled Nurses | Royal College of Nursing |
| NBS | National Board for Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Visiting for Scotland | Royal College of Nursing |
| NCN | National Council of nurses of Great Britain and Ireland (later Northern Ireland) | Royal College of Nursing |
| NCW | National Council of Women | Royal College of Nursing |
| NHS | National Health Service | Royal College of Nursing |
| NIPEC | Northern Ireland Practice & Education Council | Royal College of Nursing |
| NM | Nursing Mirror | Royal College of Nursing |
| NMC | The Nursing and Midwifery Council | Royal College of Nursing |
| NS | Nursing Standard | Royal College of Nursing |
| NT | Nursing Times | Royal College of Nursing |
| NUPE | National Union of Public Employees | Royal College of Nursing |
| PMO | Principal Medical Officer | Royal College of Nursing |
| PRB | Pay review Body | Royal College of Nursing |
| QAIMNS | Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service | Royal College of Nursing |
| QARANC | Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps | Royal College of Nursing |
| QNI | Queens Nursing Institute | Royal College of Nursing |
| QNI(S) | Queens Nursing Institute (Scotland) | Royal College of Nursing |
| RAMC | Royal Army Medical Corps | Royal College of Nursing |
| RBNA | Royal British Nurses Association | Royal College of Nursing |
| RCN | Royal College of Nursing | Royal College of Nursing |
| RCM | Royal College of Midwives | Royal College of Nursing |
| RRB | RCN Representative Body (RCN) | Royal College of Nursing |
| SEN | state enrolled nurse | Royal College of Nursing |
| SJAA | St John’s Ambulance Assocaition | Royal College of Nursing |
| SJAB | St John’s Ambulance Brigade | Royal College of Nursing |
| SMA | Socialist Medical Association] | Royal College of Nursing |
| SNAC | Standing Nursing Advisory Committee | Royal College of Nursing |
| SRN | state registered nurse | Royal College of Nursing |
| SWH | Scottish Women’s Hospital | Royal College of Nursing |
| TFNS | Territorial Force Nursing Service | Royal College of Nursing |
| TUC | Trades Union Congress | Royal College of Nursing |
| UKCC | United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting | Royal College of Nursing |
| VADs | Voluntary Aid Detachment workers (Red Cross) | Royal College of Nursing |
| WNB | Welsh National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting | Royal College of Nursing |
| WSIHVA | Women Sanitary Inspectors and Health Visitors Association | Royal College of Nursing |
| WHC | Women’s Hospital Corps | Royal College of Nursing |
| WHO | World Health Organisation | Royal College of Nursing |
| WO | War Office | Royal College of Nursing |
| WSWCC | Women’s Sick and Wounded convoy Corps | Royal College of Nursing |
| WVMSC | Women’s Volunteer Medical Staff Corps | Royal College of Nursing |