Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001

Local representative committees N.I.

42.  For Article 55 of the principal Order (local representative committees) there shall be substituted—

“Recognition of local representative committees

55.— (1) A Health and Social Services Board may recognise a committee formed for its area which it is satisfied is representative of—

(a) the medical practitioners providing general medical services or general ophthalmic services in that area;

(b) those medical practitioners and the deputy medical practitioners for that area; or

(c) the medical practitioners mentioned in—

(i) sub-paragraph (a); or

(ii) sub-paragraph (b),

and the Article 15B medical practitioners for that area,

and any committee so recognised shall be called the Local Medical Committee for the area.

(2) A Health and Social Services Board may recognise a committee formed for its area which it is satisfied is representative of—

(a) the dental practitioners providing general dental services in that area;

(b) those dental practitioners and the deputy dental practitioners for that area; or

(c) the dental practitioners mentioned in—

(i) sub-paragraph (a); or

(ii) sub-paragraph (b),

and the Article 15B dental practitioners for that area,

and any committee so recognised shall be called the Local Dental Committee for the area.

(3) Where a Health and Social Services Board is satisfied that a committee formed for its area is representative—

(a) of the ophthalmic opticians providing general ophthalmic services in that area, or

(b) of the persons providing pharmaceutical services in that area,

the Health and Social Services Board may recognise that committee; and any committee so recognised shall be called the Local Optical Committee or the Local Pharmaceutical Committee, as the case may be, for the area concerned.

(4) Any committee recognised under this Article may with the approval of the Health and Social Services Board delegate any of its functions, with or without restrictions or conditions, to sub-committees composed of members of that committee.

(5) For the purposes of this Article and Article 55A, a person who meets the condition in paragraph (6)—

(a) is a deputy medical practitioner for the area of a Health and Social Services Board if he is a medical practitioner who assists a medical practitioner providing general medical services in that area in the provision of those services but is not himself on a list;

(b) is an Article 15B medical practitioner for the area of a Health and Social Services Board if he is a medical practitioner who provides or performs personal medical services in accordance with arrangements made under Article 15B by the Health and Social Services Board (whether with himself or another);

(c) is a deputy dental practitioner for the area of a Health and Social Services Board if he is a dental practitioner who assists a dental practitioner providing general dental services in that area in the provision of those services but is not himself on a list;

(d) is an Article 15B dental practitioner for the area of a Health and Social Services Board if he is a dental practitioner who provides or performs personal dental services in accordance with arrangements made under Article 15B by the Health and Social Services Board (whether with himself or another).

(6) The condition referred to in paragraph (5) is that the person concerned has notified the Health and Social Services Board that he wishes to be represented under this Article by the appropriate committee for its area (and has not notified it that he wishes to cease to be so represented).

(7) For the purposes of paragraph (5)—

(a) a person is to be treated as assisting a medical practitioner or dental practitioner in the provision of services if he is employed by that practitioner for that purpose or if he acts as his deputy in providing those services; and

(b) “list” has the same meaning as in paragraph 1(8) of Schedule 11.

Functions of local representative committees

55A.— (1) Regulations may require a Health and Social Services Board—

(a) in the exercise of its functions under this Part to consult committees recognised by it under Article 55;

(b) in the exercise of any of its functions which relate to arrangements under Article 15B to consult committees recognised by it under Article 55(1)(c) or (2)(c),

on such occasions and to such extent as may be prescribed.

(2) The power conferred by paragraph (1) is without prejudice to any other power to require a Health and Social Services Board to consult any committee recognised under Article 55.

(3) Committees recognised under Article 55 shall exercise such other functions as may be prescribed.

(4) A committee recognised for an area under paragraph (1)(b) or (c) or (2)(b) or (c) of Article 55 shall, in respect of each year, determine the amount of its administrative expenses for that year attributable—

(a) in the case of a committee recognised under paragraph (1)(b) or (c)(ii) of that Article, to the deputy medical practitioners for the area;

(b) in the case of a committee recognised under paragraph (1)(c) of that Article, to the Article 15B medical practitioners for the area;

(c) in the case of a committee recognised under paragraph (2)(b) or (c)(ii) of that Article, to the deputy dental practitioners for the area;

(d) in the case of a committee recognised under paragraph (2)(c) of that Article, to the Article 15B dental practitioners for the area.

(5) A Health and Social Services Board may, on the request of any committee recognised under Article 55 for its area, allot to that committee such sums for defraying the committee's administrative expenses as may be determined by the Board.

(6) Any sums so allotted shall be out of the moneys available to the Health and Social Services Board for the remuneration of persons of whom the committee so recognised is representative and who provide general medical services, general dental services, general ophthalmic services or pharmaceutical services, as the case may be, under this Part.

(7) The amount of any such sums shall be deducted from the remuneration of those persons in such manner as may be determined by the Health and Social Services Board.

(8) Where a committee has made a determination under paragraph (4), it shall apportion the amount so determined among the deputy medical practitioners, Article 15B medical practitioners, deputy dental practitioners or Article 15B dental practitioners, as the case may be, for the area and each such practitioner shall pay in accordance with the committee's directions the amount so apportioned to him.

(9) References in this Article to administrative expenses of a committee include references to travelling and subsistence allowances payable to its members; but the reference in paragraph (5) to a committee's administrative expenses does not include so much of the committee's administrative expenses as are determined under paragraph (4) to be attributable to any practitioners mentioned in that paragraph.”.