The NHS Information Authority has announced the immediate closure of its Stakeholder Link service. Some of the service’s functions will be transferred to the National Programme for IT’s communications and stakeholder team. The move is part of the run-down of the authority whose abolition was announced in July. Its work will be divided between the national programme and a new special health authority, the Health and Social Care Information Centre. An opt-in exercise to transfer relevant data is being organised and Stakeholder Link members who want their details to be sent to the National Programme should register their agreement for the transfer before 22 October by emailing stakeholder.Link@nhsia.nhs.uk Stakeholders who do not want their information transferred need take no action. Stakeholder Link was launched in 2001 to bring together people from all sectors prepared to work with the IA in the planning and implementation of its work programme. An announcement from the IA said: “In order to maintain a high level of communication with data subjects who are already included on existing NHS Information Authority lists, steps are being taken to ensure that this valuable information is not lost in the imminent organisational changes. “An example of this is the IA Stakeholder Link Service. By agreeing to have contact details transferred to the National Programme, data subjects are ensuring that their information continues to be utilised in the most efficient manner.”
