RCN house style for print and web
safety representative
not health and safety representative (or rep)
saint
abbreviate to St (no full stop) – in hospital names, for example
St John Ambulance
not St John’s, and no longer a “Brigade”
Samaritans
has dropped “the” from its name
Sane
mental health charity
Sars
severe acute respiratory syndrome
schizophrenia
never use to mean “in two minds”. Avoid “schizophrenic” – use “person with schizophrenia”
school years
year 1, year 10 etc
scientific names
for example, Escherichia coli – initial cap, and italics
Scottish Government
and Scottish Parliament, whose members are MSPs (no need to spell out)
seasons
spring, summer, winter, autumn – all lower case
self-esteem, self-respect etc
hyphenate
semi-colon
“an elegant compromise between a full stop (too much) and a comma (not enough)” – “Some nurses were brilliant; others less so”. See also colon
sexuality
“LGBT” is becoming an acceptable substitute for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender” but context may demand that you spell it out at first mention
side-effects
hyphenated
singular/plural
corporate or political entities are singular: the RCN is…; the Government is…; the BBC is…
skilful
one l; well, two, but only one in the "skil" bit
specialty
not speciality when referring to a field of practice
span of years
2011-13 but between 2011 and 2013; not between 2011-13
spelling
use English rather than American: -ise, not -ize (an exception is the World Health Organization)
sponsors
may have negotiated with the RCN Marketing Department about how their name should appear. If in doubt, check
square brackets
use for clarification in quotes: “Peter [Carter] is speaking at our event,” the branch chair said.
staff
are plural
stationary
not moving
stationery
writing materials