The Health and Personal Social Services (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Temporary residents

16.—(1) The contractor may, if his list of patients is open, accept a person as a temporary resident provided he is satisfied that the person is –

(a) temporarily resident away from his normal place of residence and is not being provided with essential services (or their equivalent) under any other arrangement in the place where he is temporarily residing; or

(b) moving from place to place and not for the time being resident in any place.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), a person shall be regarded as temporarily resident in a place if, when he arrives in that place, he intends to stay there for more than 24 hours but not more than three months.

(3) A contractor which wishes to terminate his responsibility for a person accepted as a temporary resident before the end of –

(a) three months; or

(b) such shorter period for which he agreed to accept him as a patient,

shall notify him either orally or in writing and his responsibility for that patient shall cease 7 days after the date on which the notification was given.

(4) At the end of three months, or on such earlier date as his responsibility for the temporary resident has come to an end, the contractor shall notify the Board in writing of any person whom he accepted as a temporary resident.