The National Health Service (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations 2015

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations consolidate provision previously contained in the National Health Service (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/627) as amended which are revoked by regulation 90 and Schedule 4. They set out, in relation to England, the framework for personal medical services contracts made by virtue of provision in section 92 of the National Health Service Act 2006 (“the Act”) (arrangements by the National Health Service Commissioning Board for the provision of primary medical services).

Part 2 (agreements) prescribes the conditions which, in accordance with section 93 of the Act, must be met by a contractor before the relevant body may enter into a personal medical services agreement.

Part 3 (pre-agreement dispute resolution) prescribes the procedure for pre-agreement dispute resolution, in accordance with section 94(7) of the Act. Part 3 applies to cases where the contractor is not a health service body.

Part 4 (health service body status) provides for a contractor to be a health service body for the purposes of section 9 of the Act (NHS contracts) unless it objects to this by serving a notice on the relevant body before the agreement is made.

Part 5 (and Part 1 of Schedule 2) (agreements: required terms) prescribe the terms which, in accordance with section 94 of the Act, must be included in a personal medical services agreement.

The prescribed terms include terms relating to:

• the type of and general terms of an agreement (regulations 12 and 13);

• membership of a CCG (regulation 14);

• the issuing of medical certificates (regulation 15);

• finance, payments, fees and charges (regulations 16 to 19);

• the manner in which services general services are to be provided (Part 1 of Schedule 2) and out of hours services are to be provided (regulation 22);

• the conditions to be met by those who perform services or are employed or engaged by the contractor (regulations 33 to 47);

• procedures for variation and termination of agreements and consequences of termination of the agreement (regulations 24 to 26);

• other required general terms (regulation 27)

Part 6 (out of hours services: opt outs) provides for a contractor to be able to “opt out” of the provision of out of hours services under a personal medical services agreement in certain circumstances.

Part 7 (right to a general medical services contract) provides a right for a contractor to terminate its agreement and enter into a general medical services contract.

Part 8 (persons who perform services) prescribes the required qualifications, conditions, experience and professional verification required for persons who are employed or engaged by a contractor to perform services under the agreement.

Part 9 (prescribing and dispensing) prescribes the terms which, in accordance with regulations 48, 49 and 52 to 55, a person, prescriber or health care worker may prescribe and dispense with drugs, medicines or appliances.

Part 10 (prescribing and dispensing: out of hours services) prescribes terms additional to those in Part 9 in relation to contractors providing out of hours services.

Part 11 (records and information) prescribes the manner in which a contractor is to provide and store all records and data including that associated with patients.

Part 12 (complaints) requires a contractor to establish and operate a complaints procedure to deal with any complaints in relation to any matter reasonably connected with the provision of services under the agreement. The complaints procedure must comply with the requirements of the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009.

Part 13 (dispute resolution) prescribes the procedure which is to apply in respect of the resolution of disputes.

Part 14 (miscellaneous) sets out miscellaneous provisions which must a contractor must comply with in relation to a personal medical services agreement.

Part 15 (general transitional provision and saving and revocations) makes a general transitional provision and saving and revokes various enactments included in secondary legislation as a result of the coming into force of these Regulations including the revocation of the 2004 Regulations. The effect of the 2004 Regulations is saved for limited purposes.