The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015

[F1 Crown servants and family members returning to the United Kingdom for more than three months: inclusion in list of original or successor practice E+W

32D.— (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (4), a contractor must include a qualifying person (“P”) in the contractor’s list of patients if—

(a) P is not registered as a patient with a provider of primary medical services,

(b) P is required to be treated as a previous patient of the contractor,

(c) P is returning, or has returned, to the United Kingdom for a period of more than three months, and

(d) either—

(i) P makes an application for inclusion in the contractor’s list of patients (a “list application”), or

(ii) where P is a person to whom sub-paragraph (2) applies, a list application is made on their behalf by an appropriate person.

(2) This sub-paragraph applies to a person if they—

(a) have not attained the age of 16 years, or

(b) lack the capacity to make a list application or to authorise a person to make such an application on their behalf.

(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) it does not matter whether the contractor’s list of patients is open or closed.

(4) A list application—

(a) may be made on or after the date which is one month before the planned return date, but

(b) must be made before the end of the period of three months beginning with the day on which the person returns to the United Kingdom.

(5) Paragraph 29(1)(a) or (d) does not apply in respect of a qualifying person who is included in the contractor’s list of patients by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) before their return to the United Kingdom.

(6) Where a contractor accepts a list application, the contractor—

(a) must give notice in writing to [F2 NHS England] of that acceptance (including the planned return date, where the application is made and accepted before that date) as soon as possible, but

(b) is not required to provide primary medical services to the qualifying person before they return to the United Kingdom.

(7) [F2 NHS England] must, on receipt of a notice given under sub-paragraph (6)(a)—

(a) include the qualifying person in the contractor’s list of patients from the relevant date, and

(b) give notice in writing to the qualifying person or the appropriate person (as the case may be) of the acceptance.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7)(a) “the relevant date” is—

(a) where the relevant list application is made after a person’s return to the United Kingdom, the date on which [F2 NHS England] receives the notice given under sub-paragraph (7)(a);

(b) where the relevant list application is made before a person’s return to the United Kingdom, the later of—

(i) the planned return date, and

(ii) the date on which [F2 NHS England] receives the notice given under sub-paragraph (7)(a).

(9) This paragraph is subject to paragraph 32H.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Sch. 3 Pt. 2A inserted (1.10.2021) by The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts and Personal Medical Services Agreements) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/995), reg. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 4(e) (with reg. 3)

F2 Words in Regulations substituted (6.11.2023) by The Health and Care Act 2022 (Further Consequential Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1071), reg. 1(1), Sch. para. 1