Council, pharmacists by the General Pharmaceutical Council, and allied health professionals by the Health and Care Professions Council. Inspection of premises is undertaken by Healthcare Environment Inspectorate and the Care Inspectorate. There are separate institutions, independent of government such as Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow which are distinct from their counterparts elsewhere in the United Kingdom which support professionals in Scotland. Other divisions Other subdivisions of the Scottish NHS include:- Health Protection Scotland (Part of NHS National Services Scotland responsible for health protection until April 2020 Public Health Scotland, responsible for public health protection in Scotland since April 2020 Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service Test and Protect During the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS Scotland established Test & Protect as the national contact tracing service to minimise the spread of the virus within Scotland. Central Register The Central Register keeps records of patients resident in Scotland who have been registered with any of the health systems of the United Kingdom. It is maintained by the Registrar General. Its purposes include keeping GPs' patient lists up to date, the control of new NHS numbers issued in Scotland and assisting with medical research. Patient identification Scottish patients are identified using a ten-digit number known as the CHI Number. These are used to uniquely identify individuals, avoiding problems such as where health records of people with similar birth dates and names may be confused, or where ambiguously spelled or abbreviated names may lead to one patient having several different health records. In addition, CHI numbers are quoted in all clinical correspondence to ensure that there is no uncertainty over the patient in question. A similar system of NHS reference numbers has since been instituted by NHS England and Wales. Recent developments In 2000, the NHS boards were starting to help out researchers with their studies. The Scottish Dental Practice Board, for example, was helping out a study which looked at the significance of orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances. The SDPB shared 128 subjects with these researchers for analysis. The SNP government, elected in May 2007, made it clear that it opposed the use of partnerships between the NHS and the private sector. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon voiced opposition to what she termed the "creeping privatisation" of the