§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what data is transferred between health regions and districts through the Racal Healthlink service.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Racal Healthlink service was set up primarily to link the primary health care services and associated national bodies: family health services authorities; the national health service central register; the Prescriptions Pricing Authority; and the Dental Practices Board. In general, these bodies exchange information to assist their administrative operations for example, patient registration details and claims for items of service.
For regional and district health authorities, although central records are kept about the number of connections and who is connected to Healthlink, records are not kept about the type of data sent between these organisations.