The National Health Service (General Medical Services) Amendment Regulations 1998

Amendments of Parts I, IV and V of the 1992 Regulations

3.—(1) The 1992 Regulations are amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)—

(a) in the appropriate alphabetical positions, insert—

““the 1997 Act” means the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997(2);

“the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations” means the National Health Service (Choice of Medical Practitioner) Regulations 1998(3);

“personal medical services” has the meaning assigned to it in section 1(8) of the 1997 Act;

“pilot doctor” means a doctor who performs personal medical services in connection with a pilot scheme;

“pilot scheme” has the meaning assigned to it in section 1(1) of the 1997 Act;

“pilot scheme agreement” means an agreement which constitutes, or is one of the agreements which together constitute, a pilot scheme;

“pilot scheme provider” means a person who provides personal medical services in connection with a pilot scheme;

“pooled list” means a single list of the patients of two or more pilot doctors which is held in connection with a pilot scheme;”;

(b) in the definition of “doctor”, at the end, insert “and when section 35 of the 1997 Act comes into force, includes a person engaged in employment under section 10 of the Medical Act 1983(4) in an approved medical practice(5);”

(c) for the definition of “medical card”, substitute—

““medical card” means a card issued by a Health Authority to a person for the purpose of enabling him to obtain, or establishing his title to receive, primary medical services(6), other than contraceptive services, maternity medical services, child health surveillance services and minor surgery services;”; and

(d) in the definition of “temporary resident”, for “regulation 26” substitute “regulation 7 of the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations”.

(3) In regulation 19 (doctors' lists)—

(a) in paragraph (1)(a), for “this Part” substitute “the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations”;

(b) in paragraph (3), for “regulation 22(7)” substitute “regulation 3(3) of the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations”;

(c) for paragraph (6), substitute—

“(6) Any removal of a person from a doctor’s list caused by the transfer of a person to the list of another doctor or to a pooled list, other than a transfer under regulation 3(3) of the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations, or a transfer in pursuance of a notice under regulation 22(10), shall take effect—

(a) from the date on which the Health Authority receives notification of the acceptance of the person by the last-named doctor or, in the case of a transfer to a pooled list, the pilot scheme provider; or

(b) subject to the consent of the Health Authority, from such date, being not earlier than the date of that consent, as may be agreed between the doctors or, as the case may be, between the doctor and the pilot scheme provider.”; and

(d) in paragraph (6B)(7), for sub-paragraph (b) substitute—

“(b) on receipt of the notification mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph, the Health Authority shall acknowledge it in writing and give written notice of the removal to the person concerned.”.

(4) Regulations 20 (application for services) and 21 (assignment of persons to doctors) are omitted.

(5) In regulation 22 (change of doctor)—

(a) paragraphs (1) to (3) and (5) to (8) are omitted; and

(b) in paragraph (4), at the end, insert “, or to a pooled list”.

(6) In regulation 25 (temporary provision of services), in paragraph (2), after “ceases to be included in the medical list”, insert “(otherwise than in accordance with section 12(2) of the 1997 Act, to enable him to perform personal medical services in connection with a pilot scheme to which the Health Authority in whose list he was included is a party)”.

(7) For regulation 26 (temporary residents), substitute—

“Temporary residents

26.— (1) A person who is accepted as a temporary resident by a doctor under regulation 7 of the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations or by a pilot scheme provider under a pilot scheme agreement shall not be removed from the list of any doctor providing general medical services in which his name is included, unless the Health Authority for the area in which that doctor practises is satisfied, after due enquiry—

(a) that the person’s stay in the place of temporary residence has exceeded three months; and

(b) that he has not returned to his normal place of residence, or any other place within the practice area of the doctor in whose list his name is included.

(2) If a Health Authority is satisfied as mentioned in paragraph (1), it shall remove the name of the person from the list of the doctor in which it is included and, if practicable, inform the person of that fact and of his entitlement to seek acceptance by any doctor, including the doctor by whom he has been treated as a temporary resident, in the area in which he is living, and of the name and address of the Health Authority for that area.”.

(8) In regulation 31 (obtaining maternity medical services), in paragraph (4), for “regulation 20” substitute “regulation 2 of the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations”.

(9) In regulation 33 (obtaining minor surgery services), in paragraph (1), for “regulation 20(2)”, in both places, substitute “regulation 2(3) of the Choice of Medical Practitioner Regulations”.

(1)

Regulation 2 was amended by S.I. 1995/3093, regulation 2, and by S.I. 1997/2468, regulation 3.

(2)

1997 c. 46.

(3)

S.I. 1998.

(4)

1983 c. 54.

(5)

See section 11(4), as prospectively amended by section 35 of the 1997 Act. No relevant Regulations under Section 11 had been made at the date on which these Regulations were made.

(6)

“Primary medical services” is defined in section 28F(6) of the Act, inserted by section 23(1) of the 1997 Act.

(7)

Paragraph (6B) was inserted by S.I. 1994/633, regulation 6.