Registration Authority Overview:

RA is the acronym for Registration Authority; this is a function (team) within a NHS organisation which carries out the identity checks of prospective smartcard users and assigns an appropriate access profile to the health professional’s role as approved by the employing organisation.

A smartcard is a photographic ID card issued to those that have a valid reason to access clinical and personal information. A smartcard, used in conjunction with a PIN or Passcode, (known only to the smartcard holder) gives secure and auditable access to specific areas of local clinical systems that they are trained to use as defined by their role profile set on the card.

There are three key elements to a role profile;  Job Role (what the user does),  Area of Work (where the user performs the job role) and Business Function (controls a smartcard holder’s specific application functionality and access).  These key elements are set and updated by the RA team through the completion of the different numbered RA forms that they receive to request access or access modification.

A Sponsor is an individual identified by the employing organisation who has been appointed to designate and approve user access to information and functionality of local clinical systems. They may be your Line Manager and must have a smartcard of their own with the Sponsor role defined to be able to request and authorise smartcard access for users.