The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts and Personal Medical Services Agreements) (Amendment) Regulations 2019

Insertion of new paragraph 16B to Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the PMS Agreements Regulations

29.  After paragraph 16A of Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the PMS Agreements Regulations (NHS e Referral Service), insert—

“Direct booking by NHS 111

16B.— (1) A contractor must ensure that as a minimum the following number of appointments during core hours for its registered patients are made available per day for direct booking by NHS 111—

(a) one, where a contractor has 3,000 registered patients or fewer; or

(b) one for each whole 3,000 registered patients, where a contractor has more than 3,000 registered patients.

(2) The requirements in sub-paragraphs (1) and (3) do not apply where—

(a) the Board and the contractor have agreed to suspend the requirements for operational reasons; or

(b) the contractor does not have access to computer systems and software which would enable it to offer the service described in sub-paragraph (1).

(3) A contractor must—

(a) configure its computerised systems to allow direct booking by NHS 111;

(b) monitor its booking system for appointments booked by NHS 111;

(c) assess the Post Event Message received from NHS 111 in order to decide whether an alternative to the booked appointment should be arranged, such as a telephone call to the patient or an appointment with another healthcare professional and where appropriate, make those arrangements; and

(d) co-operate with the Board in its oversight of direct booking by NHS 111 by providing any information relating to direct booking by NHS 111 which is reasonably required by the Board.

(4) In this paragraph, “Post Event Message” means the electronic message which is sent to a contractor at the end of a telephone call to NHS 111.”.