Glossary | NICE

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en-GB"> <head> <title>Glossary | NICE</title>  <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:wght@400;600&family=Lora:ital,wght@0,600;1,600&display=swap" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="https://cdn.nice.org.uk/niceorg/css/app.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />   <script crossorigin="anonymous" integrity="sha384-1H217gwSVyLSIfaLxHbE7dRb3v4mYCKbpQvzx0cegeju1MVsGrX5xXxAvs/HgeFs" src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script crossorigin="anonymous" integrity="sha384-ez4i72z0XhJqm0ZRoQkpPN0bDV8Kw8PK3n8kjEZsWhRDrfICLd0AGghHJB+vytx0" src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-3.4.1.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/Themes/NICE.Bootstrap/scripts/head.combined-v1.10.9325.0.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <meta name="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_GB" /> <meta name="x-country" content="gb" /> <meta name="DC.Title" content="Glossary | NICE" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Glossary" /> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Glossary" /> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#f6f6f6" /> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon-144.png" /> <meta name="DC.Publisher" content="NICE" /> <meta name="DC.Rights.Copyright" content="All content on this site is NICE copyright unless otherwise stated. You can download material for private research, study or in-house use only. Do not distribute or publish any material from this site without first obtaining NICE's permission. Where Crown copyright applies, see the Office of Public Sector Information (formerly HMSO) website for information." /> <meta name="DC.Language" scheme="DCTERMS.ISO639-2T" content="eng" /> <meta name="DC.Subject" scheme="eGMS.IPSV" content="Health, well-being and care" /> <meta name="eGMS.accessibility" scheme="eGMS.WCAG10" content="Double-A" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="NICE" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@NICEcomms" /> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@NICEcomms" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary" /> <meta property="og:url" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="article:author" content="https://www.facebook.com/NationalInstituteforHealthandCareExcellence" /> <meta name="cid" content="3759" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon.ico" /> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon-152.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon-152.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon-120.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="120x120" href="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon-120.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon-152.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Content/nice/favicon-152.png"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.nice.org.uk/glossary?letter=w" />    <meta name="theme-color" content="#333"><link href="/Media/Default/css/default.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><script src="/Media/Default/js/default.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </head> <body data-spy="scroll" data-target=".aside-primary" class=" " >  <noscript> <iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-M55QTQ" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe> </noscript> <script> (function (w, d, s, l, i) { w[l] = w[l] || []; w[l].push({ 'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(), event: 'gtm.js' }); var f = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j = d.createElement(s), dl = l != 'dataLayer' ? '&l=' + l : ''; j.async = true; j.src = '//www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=' + i + dl; f.parentNode.insertBefore(j, f); })(window, document, 'script', 'dataLayer', 'GTM-M55QTQ');</script>  <div id="global-nav-header"></div> <div id="printpane"></div> <header class="container "> <div class="zone zone-breadcrumb"> <div class="widget-GlossarySubMenuWidgetBreadcrumb widget-breadcrumb widget-sub-menu-widget widget"> <div class="widget-content"> <div class="container"> <ul class="breadcrumb"> <li><a href="/" data-track="mainbreadcrumb">Home</a></li> </ul> <h1 id="content-start">Glossary</h1> </div> </div> </div></div> </header> <div id="toTop"><span aria-hidden="true" class="icon-nice-chevron-up"></span></div> <main class="layout "> <div class="content content-primary"> <div class="zone zone-content"> <div id="glossary-list-index"> <div class="glossary-main"> <div id="glossary-intro"> <p class="lead">The NICE glossary provides brief definitions and explanations of terms used on the website. The terms describe how NICE works and how its guidance is produced.</p> <p>Our glossary excludes specific clinical and medical terms. If you cannot find the term you are looking for, please <a href="mailto:NICEGlossary@nice.org.uk">email us</a> so that we can consider adding it to the glossary.</p> <p>Some definitions and examples are based on those in the <a href="http://htaglossary.net/HomePage">HTAi consumer and patient glossary</a>, with thanks to Health Technology Assessment International.</p> <p>For terms used in social care, the <a href="http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/Browse/Informationandadvice/CareandSupportJargonBuster/">Care and Support Jargon Buster</a> from Think Local Act Personal is a useful guide to the most commonly used social care words and phrases, and what they mean.</p> </div> <div id="glossary-list"> <div class="alert alert--info">There are currently no terms for W</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="content content-secondary"> <div class="zone zone-aside-second"> <ul class="nav nav-glossary"> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=A">A</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=B">B</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=C">C</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=D">D</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=E">E</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=F">F</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=G">G</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=H">H</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=I">I</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=J">J</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=K">K</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=L">L</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=M">M</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=N">N</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=O">O</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=P">P</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=Q">Q</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=R">R</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=S">S</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=T">T</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=U">U</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=V">V</a></li> <li class="active"> <a href="/Glossary?letter=W">W</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=X">X</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=Y">Y</a></li> <li > <a href="/Glossary?letter=Z">Z</a></li> </ul></div> </div>  </main>  <script async="" src="https://cdn.nice.org.uk/niceorg/js/app.js" type="text/javascript"></script>  <script src="https://cdn.nice.org.uk/V2/Scripts/twitter.bootstrap.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="https://cdn.nice.org.uk/V2/Scripts/NICE.bootstrap.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/Modules/Orchard.Resources/scripts/history.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="//cdn.nice.org.uk/V3/Scripts/nice/NICE.EventTracking.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/Themes/NICE.Bootstrap/scripts/niceorg/NICE.TopScroll.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/Themes/NICE.Bootstrap/scripts/foot.combined-v1.10.9325.0.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script> var global_nav_config = { service: "", header: { skipLinkId: "content-start", search: { url: "/search", autocomplete: "/autocomplete?ajax=ajax", query: "", onSearching: window.globalNavSearchingHandler || null }, auth: { environment: "live" }, cookie: false }, footer: true }; </script> <script src="https://cdn.nice.org.uk/global-nav/global-nav.min.js" defer></script> <script src="//cdn.nice.org.uk/cookie-banner/cookie-banner.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ajaxSend(function (event, jqxhr, settings) { if (settings.url.indexOf("?") >= 0) { settings.url = settings.url + "&ajax=ajax"; } else { settings.url = settings.url + "?ajax=ajax"; } }) if ('ontouchstart' in document.documentElement) { $('body').addClass('touch-screen-device'); } else { $('body').addClass('non-touch-screen-device'); } </script> <div id="global-nav-footer"></div> </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

Glossary | NICE