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The Registration Authority is responsible for registering and verifying the identity of NHS staff who need to use the Electronic Prescriptions Service and related IT systems and services, including applications within the NHS Care Records Service such as Choose and Book and the Summary Care Record.
Local NHS organisations have responsibility for establishing their own Registration Authority – this may be within a Primary Care Trust, acute hospital or mental health trust.
Local Registration Authorities are responsible for the three-stage registration process: verifying a user’s identity beyond reasonable doubt, registering user profiles and issuing NHS CRS Smartcards. As part of the process, the RA manager/agent must ensure that an appointed sponsor has confirmed the access rights of each applicant. Registration Authorities are responsible for ensuring that sponsors understand and acknowledge the responsibilities and obligations of these access rights, and that these are made clear to the user’s employer if appropriate.
Registration Authority managers have been advised to consult with local pharmacy representatives to propose individuals who could act as sponsors. A key consideration is accessibility of sponsors.
PSNC is recommending that for the initial implementation of EPS Release 2, to ensure ready access to sponsors, a representative in each pharmacy premises is given sponsorship responsibility, for example the pharmacist-in-charge or branch manager. LPCs and PCTs discussing the arrangements for supporting Smartcard administration for Release 2, may wish to put interim arrangements in place now until more information is known about future developments. The final decision on the appointment of sponsors is taken by the local Executive Management Team.
In the medium term, advances in technology may reduce the benefits of having a sponsor in each pharmacy premises, therefore this recommendation will be kept under close review as EPS Release 2 is rolled out.
Note: All Sponsors must be registered and be issued with a Smartcard before they can act as Sponsors.
In this section of the site you’ll find detailed information on the responsibilities of sponsors and what this means in practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Appointment of Sponsors and Scope of their responsibility
Who appoints sponsors and what is the sponsor registration process?
The local RA’s Executive Management Teams' assignment of a sponsor is recorded on an RA02 form. The granting of a Smartcard, and appropriate access rights must be undertaken by the local RA by a face-to-face meeting with the prospective sponsor. This includes the sponsor having their identity confirmed by providing photographic identification and proof in the community documentation. The sponsor must also have signed up to the RA01 terms and conditions of their Smartcard.
As part of the process, the local Executive Management Team agree with the sponsor which staff they can approve access rights for, the scope of the access rights that the sponsor can issue to an individual and whether a sponsor can support the renewal of Smartcard certificates and unlocking of smartcards.
The local RA has a responsibility to ensure that sponsors are adequately trained and where necessary know how to unlock Smartcards and issue Self Service Fallback Smartcards. The local RA will assist sponsors in understanding the Role Based Access Control (RBAC) model.
Can a sponsor approve access rights for staff in different PCT areas?
The local executive Management Team is responsible for agreeing which staff a sponsor can approve access rights for.
A sponsor can only sponsor individual staff within a specific PCT area. For example, if an area manager worked across multiple PCT areas, authority to sponsor staff in each of those areas would have to be granted separately by the local RA Executive Management Team in each area.
A pharmacy is based on a GP surgery. Could the sponsor from the GP surgery also sponsor the pharmacy staff access rights to EPS?
The local executive Management Team is responsible for agreeing which staff a sponsor can approve access rights for and the scope of those access rights.
It would be possible the sponsor in the GP surgery to be granted authority to sponsor the access rights of pharmacy staff including supporting pharmacy staff in resolving problems such as locked Smartcards.
Does the sponsor need to know the individual who they are approving access rights for (e.g. would a pharmacist sponsor need to know the technician they are sponsoring)?
No. It is not necessary for the sponsor to know the individual they are approving access rights for. The sponsor must reassure themselves that the user requires the level of access requested; therefore if they do not know the individual, they may need to contact the pharmacist in charge of the pharmacy to confirm with them that the individual requires the requested level of access.
Responsibilities of Sponsors
What are a sponsor’s responsibilities?
Sponsors need to:
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Be familiar with the application they sponsor users for (e.g. EPS)
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Be familiar with the different types of access profiles to approve
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Understand which users registrations they can support within the scope of the authority granted to them by the Executive Management Team
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Be aware of the method identified by the local RA for specifying access profiles to ensure that access profiles submitted follow national guidelines and requirements
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Work with their local RA to maintain access to NHS CRS compliant systems within their area of responsibility consistent with the NHS Confidentiality Code of Practice and Care Record Guarantee
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Understand how to support access profile change and removal requests, and the revocation of Smartcards and Smartcard certificates
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Understand how to support Smartcard certificate renewal and the unlocking of cards/re-setting of Passcodes
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Understand the local arrangements for Self Service Fallback Smartcards and local arrangements for the sponsor to support the issuing of these, where appropriate
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The sponsor needs to be assured that the user’s identity has been confirmed beyond reasonable doubt and that the user requires the level of access requested.
Sponsors Workload
What do sponsors do in practice?
Sponsor responsibilities are:
| Sponsor Responsibility | What does it mean in practice? |
| Approve registrations of NHS CRS users (RA decides which individuals a sponsor can approve e.g. PCT-wide, for one premises, support staff only etc.) | Signs the RA01 form to approve the individual’s access to the NHS CRS. The form must then be passed to the RA. The sponsor doesn’t have to be present e.g. the form could be posted. |
| Support access profile change e.g. adding or removing an individual’s profile to additional pharmacy premises or granting a pre-reg trainee an additional activity. | As above – signs the RA02 to approve the individual’s access profile change request. The form must then be passed to the RA. The sponsor doesn’t have to be present e.g. the form could be faxed to the sponsor and then posted on to the RA |
| Support the revocation of Smartcards and Smartcard certificates. | The RA03 form needs to be completed and signed by either the RA agent or a sponsor (in this case, not both). |
| If the RA agrees, a sponsor may also be granted the authority to: Renew a user's Smartcard certificates if confident of the user's identity. Note: users are encouraged to renew their Smartcard certificates themselves online (provided they have not yet expired) via the Self Service Portal. |
Certificates should only be renewed if they are within three months of expiry or there is the belief that they may have been compromised (i.e. transactions have been found that may not have been performed by the user and the Smartcard has been entirely in the care of the user). Sponsors can only renew certificates for existing users. Certificates can only be renewed by the sponsor in the presence of the user because the user will need to reset their Smartcard Passcode. The sponsor will need to verify the user’s identity by comparing the photograph on the Smartcard with the user. To re-new certificates in the pharmacy, the sponsor requires access to a computer with two Smartcard readers and access to the online card management system. |
| If the RA agrees, a sponsor may also be granted the authority to: unlock a user's Smartcard and reset Passcodes. Note: The online self service functionality allows a user who knows their User’s Unique ID (12 digit number on the Smartcard), and Account Recovery Passcode, and who has an @nhs.net email account or mobile phone defined in the Spine User Directory to self unlock their own Smartcard. If the user doesn’t have this information listed in the Spine User Directory, the sponsor could assist. |
A sponsor can reset a user’s Passcode when the Passcode is:
To do this the sponsor must have been given this authority by the RA, have access to a computer with 2 Smartcard readers attached and have access to the online card management system. To reset/unlock a user’s Smartcard, a sponsor must verify the user’s identity at a face-to-face meeting and reset the Passcode. The user’s identity should be confirmed by:
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| If the RA agrees, manage the distribution of Self Service Fallback Smartcards. |
Sponsor needs to sign the RA04 form which is then passed to the RA who authorises access via the Self Service Fallback Smartcard. Self Service Fallback Smartcards can only be accessed by individuals who are already registered with their own Smartcards. |