The Spine is a collection of national applications, services and directories that support the NHS and the exchange of information across national and local NHS systems. The project began in 2003, and now every NHS organisation can access the Spine services.

With over 60 million patients and over 20,000 sites across England, the NHS needs a central, efficient and reliable source of information, and the ability to securely exchange information, in order to function effectively.

The Spine provides:

• Fast, easy access to reliable demographic and organisation information;
• Links with other NHS computer systems and services including Summary Care Records, GP2GP, Choose and Book, the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) and the Secondary Uses Service (SUS);
• Guaranteed, secure delivery and exchange of information; and
• An audit trail of every transaction it supports, i.e. who, what, where and when.