The NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) was part of the UK

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(NHS). It was established as a

NHS special health authority A special health authority is a type of NHS body which provide services on behalf of the National Health Service in England. Unlike other types of trust, they operate nationally rather than serve a specific geographical area. They are a type of " ...

by an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

in April 1999. With headquarters in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, UK, its aim was to bring together four NHS IT and Information bodies (NHS Telecoms, Family Health Service (FHS), NHS Centre for Coding and Classification (CCC) and NHS Information Management Group (IMG)) to work together to deliver IT infrastructure and information solutions to the NHS in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Among its programmes, products and services were ERDIP, Read Codes, the NHS's contribution to SNOMED development, Pathology Messaging,

NHSnet The Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) is a standards-based network that replaced the N3 network in the National Health Service (NHS) in England. It went live in April 2017. Transition to the new network was completed by November 2020. Histor ...

, the NHS-wide private

computer network A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections are ...

designed to enable NHS bodies to communicate securely, the Exeter system, a suite of computer programs used by Health Authorities for many purposes, NHS Numbers for Babies ("NN4B"), the

National electronic Library for Health The National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) was a digital library service provided by the NHS for healthcare professionals and the public between 1998 and 2006. It briefly became the National Library for Health and elements of it continue to ...

(NeLH), and NHSmail, an NHS-wide e-mail service known for a short time as 'Contact'. In 2002, the

NHS National Programme for IT The NHS Connecting for Health (CFH) agency was part of the UK Department of Health and was formed on 1 April 2005, having replaced the former NHS Information Authority. It was part of the Department of Health Informatics Directorate, with the role ...

(NPfIT) was announced by the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

, initially to work with the NHSIA to deliver the ''Healthcare IT for the 21st Century''

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

. The programme was hosted by the NHSIA. In 2004, it was announced that as part of an initiative to cut costs and numbers of Arms Length Bodies (ALB's), the NHSIA would be abolished and its work would be divided between the National Programme for IT, which would become a unit with the Department of Health known as

NHS Connecting for Health The NHS Connecting for Health (CFH) agency was part of the UK Department of Health and was formed on 1 April 2005, having replaced the former NHS Information Authority. It was part of the Department of Health Informatics Directorate, with the role ...

, and a newly created

Information Centre for Health and Social Care NHS Digital is the trading name of the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which is the national provider of information, data and IT systems for commissioners, analysts and clinicians in health and social care in England, particularly th ...

(known as the NHS Information Centre (NHSIC) and since renamed the Health and Social Care Information Centre and trading as NHS Digital (NHSD)). Prior to its closure, the NHSIA was also responsible for overseeing the delivery of the ECDL ("

European Computer Driving Licence International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL), formerly known as European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), is a computer literacy certification program provided by ECDL Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation. The ICDL / ECDL certification is a ...

") qualification to NHS staff via a network of local, internal ECDL test centres. The NHSIA ceased to exist on 1 April 2005, replaced with the

program and the NHS Information Centre - See NHS Digital.

References

{{reflist Defunct National Health Service organisations Health informatics in the United Kingdom Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Birmingham, West Midlands National Health Service (England) Science and technology in the West Midlands (county)