Important Terms Explained
Here's some of the main medical terms you might come across. You can also ask a question using our online frequently-asked questions service.
- Acute condition
- Chronic condition
- Complementary medicine
- CT
- Day-patient treatment
- Diagnostic tests
- Eligible
- Excess
- In-patient treatment
- MRI
- Out-patient treatment
- PET
- Specialist
Acute condition
A disease, illness or injury that is likely to respond quickly to treatment which aims to return you to the state of health you were in immediately before suffering the disease, illness or injury, or which leads to your full recovery.
Chronic condition
A disease, illness or injury which has at least one of the following characteristics:
- it continues indefinitely and has no known cure
- it comes back or is likely to come back
- it is permanent
- you need to be rehabilitated or specially trained to cope with it
- it needs long-term monitoring, consultations, check-ups, examinations or tests
Complementary medicine
Homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy or chiropractic treatment
CT
Computerised tomography - a form of x-ray that produces a three-dimensional computer generated image of a section of the body.
Day-patient treatment
Treatment which, for medical reasons, means you have to go into a hospital or day-patient unit because you need a period of clinically-supervised recovery but do not have to stay overnight.
Diagnostic tests
Investigations, such as x-rays or blood tests, to find or to help to find the cause of your symptoms.
Eligible
Treatments and charges that are covered by your policy, subject to all the terms, benefits and exclusions of the policy.
Excess
There is a standard excess of £100 on all three policies; however you may choose to increase this to £200 or £500. It means that you pay the amount of your chosen excess towards the cost of eligible medical treatment. An excess is calculated on your yearly premium and is only payable once per person per policy year and not on every claim.
In-patient treatment
Treatment which, for medical reasons, means you need to stay in hospital overnight or for longer.
MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging - diagnostic technique producing computerised images of internal body tissues.
Out-patient treatment
Treatment given at a hospital, consulting room or out-patient clinic where you do not go in for day-patient or in-patient treatment.
PET
Positron emission tomography - diagnostic technique producing computerised images showing the chemical functioning of an organ or tissue.
Specialist
A medical practitioner with particular training in an area of medicine (such as consultant surgeons, consultant anaesthetists and consultant physicians) with full registration under the Medical Acts, who meets the criteria for specialist recognition for benefit purposes, and who has been told in writing that they are currently recognised as a specialist for benefit purposes in their field of practice.
