The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2000

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

“the Act” means the National Health Service Act 1977;

“accepted disablement” means physical or mental injury or disease which is accepted by the Secretary of State as attributable to or aggravated by service in the armed forces of the Crown or such other service as he may determine;

“appliance” means a listed appliance within the meaning of section 41 of the Act but does not include a contraceptive appliance;

“chemist” includes any person, other than a doctor, providing pharmaceutical services;

“doctor” means a registered medical practitioner;

“drugs” includes medicines, but does not include contraceptive substances;

“elastic hosiery” means anklet, legging, knee-cap, below-knee or thigh stocking;

“exemption” means any remission granted under these regulations from charges payable under these regulations;

“exemption certificate” has the meaning assigned to it by regulation 8(1);

“medical list” means the list, prepared under section 29 of the Act, of medical practitioners who have undertaken to provide general medical services;

“nurse prescriber” means a nurse or health visitor of a description specified in paragraph (2);

“patient” means

(a)

any person for whose treatment a doctor is responsible under his terms of service or in connection with a pilot scheme;

(b)

any person who applies to a chemist for the provision of pharmaceutical services and includes for the purposes of these Regulations a person acting on behalf of such a person;

(c)

any person who seeks information or treatment from a walk-in Centre;

“pilot scheme” shall be construed in accordance with section 1(1) of the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997(1);

“pre-payment certificate” has the meaning assigned to it by regulation 9(1);

“prescription form” means a form provided by a Health Authority, an NHS trust or a Primary Care Trust and issued by a doctor, dentist or nurse prescriber to enable a person to obtain pharmaceutical services and includes a prescription form provided and issued under equivalent arrangements having effect in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland;

“terms of service” means the terms on which general medical services, general dental services, general ophthalmic services and pharmaceutical services are provided under the Act;

“the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges Regulations” means the National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) Regulations 1988(2);

“treatment” includes examination and diagnosis;

“Walk-in Centre” means a centre at which information and treatment for minor conditions is provided to the public under arrangements made by or on behalf of the Secretary of State.

(2) The specified description of a nurse or health visitor mentioned in the definition of “nurse prescriber” in paragraph (1) is–

(a) a person who is registered in Part 1 or 12 of the register maintained under the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1997(3) (referred to below in this paragraph as “the professional register”), has a district nursing qualification additionally recorded in the professional register maintained under rule 11 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Rule 1983(4), and is, at the time of ordering the listed drug or medicine or listed appliance–

(i) employed as a district nurse by a Health Authority, an NHS trust or a Primary Care Trust or by a local authority in connection with arrangements under section 31(2)(c) of the Health Act 1999;

(ii) employed as a nurse by a doctor whose name is included in a medical list or who, at that time, is assisting in the performance of personal medical services under a pilot scheme; or

(iii) assisting, in the capacity of a nurse, in the provision of services in a Walk-in-Centre;

(b) a person who is registered in Part 11 of the professional register as a health visitor and is, at the time of ordering the listed drug or medicine or listed appliance–

(i) employed as a nurse by a Health Authority, an NHS trust or a Primary Care Trust or by a local authority in connection with arrangements under section 31(2)(c) of the Health Act 1999;

(ii) employed as a nurse by a doctor whose name is included in a medical list or who, at that time, is assisting in the performance of personal medical services under pilot scheme; or

(iii) assisting, in the capacity of a nurse, in the provision of services in Walk-in-Centre;

against whose name (in each case) is recorded in the professional register an annotation signifying that he is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances for patients.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations the supply against an order on one prescription form–

(a) of quantities of the same drug in more than one container shall be treated as the supply of only one quantity of a drug;

(b) of more than one appliance of the same type, except in the case of elastic hosiery and tights, or of two or more component parts of the same appliance, shall be treated as the supply of only one appliance.

(4) Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation in, or Schedule to, these Regulations which bears that number, and any reference in a regulation to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph bearing that number in that regulation.

(1)

1997 c. 46.

(2)

S.I. 1988/551 as amended by S.I. 1989/394, 517 and 614, 1990/548, 918 and 1661, 1991/557, 1992/1104, 1993/608, 1995/642 and 3252, 1996/410, 1346 and 2362, 1997/748 and 2393, 1998/2417, and 1999/767 and 2507 and 2000/621.

(3)

1997 c. 24.

(4)

S.I. 1983/873 to which there are amendments.