The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Wales) Regulations 2023

1. Introductory Text

2. PART 1 General

   1. 1. Title and commencement

   2. 2. Application

   3. 3. Interpretation

3. PART 2 Contractors: conditions and eligibility

   1. 4. Conditions: general

   2. 5. Conditions relating solely to medical practitioners

   3. 6. General condition relating to all contracts

   4. 7. Notice of conditions not being met and reasons

   5. 8. Right of appeal

4. PART 3 Pre-contract dispute resolution

   1. 9. Pre-contract disputes

5. PART 4 Health service body status

   1. 10. Health service body status: election

   2. 11. Health service body status: variation of contracts

   3. 12. Cessation of health service body status

6. PART 5 Contracts: required terms

   1. 13. Parties to the contract

   2. 14. Health service contract

   3. 15. Contracts with individuals practising in partnership

   4. 16. Duration

   5. 17. Unified services

   6. 18. Services: general

   7. 19. Certificates

   8. 20. Finance

   9. 21. Fees, charges and financial interests

   10. 22. Circumstances in which fees and charges may be made

   11. 23. Activity and Appointment Data

   12. 24. Dataset and business rules

   13. 25. Contract assurance

   14. 26. Sub-contracting

   15. 27. Variation of contracts

   16. 28. Termination of a contract

   17. 29. Other contractual terms

7. PART 6 Functions of Local Medical Committees

   1. 30. (1) The functions of a Local Medical Committee which are...

8. PART 7 General transitional provision and saving, consequential amendments and revocations

   1. 31. General transitional provision and saving

   2. 32. Consequential amendments

   3. 33. Revocations

9. Signature

10. 1. SCHEDULE 1

       List of Prescribed Medical Certificates

    2. SCHEDULE 2

       Further details about specific Unified Services

       1. 1. Cervical screening

       2. 2. Child health surveillance

       3. 3. Childhood vaccinations and immunisations

       4. 4. Contraceptive services

       5. 5. Maternity medical services

       6. 6. Minor surgery

       7. 7. Vaccinations and immunisations

       8. 8. For the purposes of paragraphs 1 to 7 “a patient’s...

    3. SCHEDULE 3

       Other contractual terms

       1. PART 1 Provision of services

          1. 1. Premises, facilities and equipment

          2. 2. Telephone services

          3. 3. Cost of relevant calls

          4. 4. Access

          5. 5. Attendance at practice premises

          6. 6. Attendance outside practice premises

          7. 7. Newly registered patients

          8. 8. Patients not seen within 3 years

          9. 9. Patients aged 75 years and over

          10. 10. Clinical reports

          11. 11. Storage of vaccines

          12. 12. Infection control

          13. 13. Duty of co-operation in relation to supplementary services

          14. 14. Duty of co-operation in relation to out of hours services

          15. 15. Membership of a cluster

          16. 16. Duty of co-operation: cluster working

          17. 17. Membership of a GP Collaborative

          18. 18. Contribution to clusters and GP Collaboratives

          19. 19. Demand and capacity

          20. 20. Cessation of service provision: information requests

          21. 21. Welsh Language

       2. PART 2 Patients

          1. 22. List of patients

          2. 23. Application for inclusion in a list of patients

          3. 24. Inclusion in list of patients: armed forces personnel

          4. 25. Temporary residents

          5. 26. Refusal of applications for inclusion in the list of patients or early termination of responsibility for temporary residents

          6. 27. Patient preference of practitioner

          7. 28. Removal from the list at the request of the patient

          8. 29. Removal from the list at the request of the contractor

          9. 30. Removals from the list of patients who are violent

          10. 31. Removal from list if patient registered elsewhere

          11. 32. Removal from the list of patients who have moved

          12. 33. Removal from the list of patients whose address is unknown

          13. 34. Removal from the list of patients absent from the United Kingdom etc.

          14. 35. Removal from the list of patients accepted elsewhere as temporary residents

          15. 36. Removal from the list of pupils etc. of a school

          16. 37. Termination of responsibility for patients not registered with the contractor

       3. PART 3 List of patients: closure, etc.

          1. 38. Application for closure of list of patients

          2. 39. Approval of an application to close a list of patients

          3. 40. Rejection of an application to close a list of patients

          4. 41. Re-opening of list of patients

       4. PART 4 Assignment of patients to lists

          1. 42. (1) This Part applies in respect of the assignment by...

          2. 43. Assignment of patients to list of patients: open and closed lists

          3. 44. Factors relevant to assignments

          4. 45. Assignments to closed lists: composition and determinations of the assessment panel

          5. 46. Assignment to closed lists: NHS dispute resolution procedure relating to determinations of the assessment panel

          6. 47. Assignments to closed lists: assignments of patients by the Local Health Board

       5. PART 5 Prescribing and dispensing

          1. 48. Prescribing: general

          2. 49. Orders for drugs, medicines and appliances

          3. 50. Electronic prescriptions

          4. 51. Nomination of dispensers for the purposes of electronic prescriptions

          5. 52. Repeatable prescribing services

          6. 53. Repeatable prescriptions

          7. 54. Prescribing for electronic repeat dispensing

          8. 55. Restrictions on prescribing by medical practitioners

          9. 56. Restrictions on prescribing by supplementary prescribers

          10. 57. Bulk prescribing

          11. 58. Excessive prescribing

          12. 59. Provision of drugs, medicines and appliances for immediate treatment or personal administration

          13. 60. Provision of dispensing services

       6. PART 6 Persons who perform services

          1. 61. Qualifications of performers: medical practitioners

          2. 62. Qualifications of performers: health care professionals

          3. 63. Conditional registration or inclusion in primary care list

          4. 64. Clinical experience

          5. 65. Conditions for employment and engagement: medical practitioner

          6. 66. Conditions for employment or engagement: health care professionals

          7. 67. Clinical references

          8. 68. Verification of qualifications and competence

          9. 69. Training

          10. 70. Terms and conditions

          11. 71. Arrangements for GP Specialty Registrars

          12. 72. Notice requirements in respect of relevant prescribers

          13. 73. Signing of documents

          14. 74. Level of skill and compliance with pathways

          15. 75. Appraisal and assessment

       7. PART 7 Sub-contracting

          1. 76. Sub-contracting

          2. 77. Withdrawal and variation of approval and right to subsequently object to a sub-contract under paragraph 76

       8. PART 8 Records, information, notifications and rights of entry

          1. 78. Patient records

          2. 79. Welsh GP record

          3. 80. Electronic transfer of patient records between GP practices

          4. 81. Clinical correspondence: requirement for NHS number

          5. 82. Use of fax machines

          6. 83. Confidentiality of personal data: nominated person

          7. 84. Provision of information to patients

          8. 85. Provision of information (or access to information) at the request of the Local Health Board

          9. 86. Clinical audits ...

          10. 87. Information relating to indicators no longer in the Quality Assurance and Improvement Framework

          11. 88. The Wales National Workforce Reporting System

          12. 89. General Practice Escalation Tool

          13. 90. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency Central Alerting System

          14. 91. Inquiries about prescriptions and referrals

          15. 92. Provision of information to a medical officer etc.

          16. 93. Annual return and review

          17. 94. Notifications to the Local Health Board

          18. 95. Co-operation with the Local Health Board

          19. 96. Notice provisions specific to a contract with a company limited by shares

          20. 97. Notice provisions specific to a contract with two or more individuals practising in partnership

          21. 98. Notification of deaths

          22. 99. Notifications to patients following variation of the contract

          23. 100. Entry and Inspection by the Local Health Board

       9. PART 9 Concerns, complaints and investigations

          1. 101. Concerns and complaints

          2. 102. Co-operation with investigations

          3. 103. Provision of information about complaints

       10. PART 10 Dispute resolution

           1. 104. Local resolution of contract disputes

           2. 105. Dispute resolution: non-NHS contracts

           3. 106. NHS dispute resolution procedure

           4. 107. Determination of the dispute

           5. 108. Interpretation of this Part

       11. PART 11 Variation and termination of contracts

           1. 109. Variation of a contract: general

           2. 110. Variation provisions specific to a contract with an individual medical practitioner

           3. 111. Variation provisions specific to a contract with two or more individuals practising in partnership

           4. 112. Termination by agreement

           5. 113. Termination on the death of an individual medical practitioner

           6. 114. Termination by the contractor

           7. 115. Late payment notices

           8. 116. Termination by the Local Health Board: general

           9. 117. Termination by the Local Health Board for breach of conditions in regulation 5

           10. 118. Termination by the Local Health Board for the provision of untrue etc. information

           11. 119. Other grounds for termination by the Local Health Board

           12. 120. Termination by the Local Health Board where patients’ safety is seriously at risk or where there is risk of material financial loss to Local Health Board

           13. 121. Termination by the Local Health Board for unlawful sub-contracting

           14. 122. Termination by the Local Health Board: remedial notices and breach notices

           15. 123. Termination by the Local Health Board: additional provisions specific to contracts with two or more individuals practising in partnership and companies limited by shares

           16. 124. Contract sanctions

           17. 125. Contract sanctions and the NHS dispute resolution procedure

           18. 126. Termination and the NHS dispute resolution procedure

           19. 127. Consultation with the Local Medical Committee

       12. PART 12 Miscellaneous

           1. 128. Clinical governance

           2. 129. Co-operation with Health Education and Improvement Wales

           3. 130. Insurance

           4. 131. Public liability insurance

           5. 132. Gifts

           6. 133. Bribery Act

           7. 134. Advertising private services

           8. 135. Compliance with legislation and guidance

           9. 136. Third party rights

    4. SCHEDULE 4

       Provision of information to patients

       1. 1. Information to be included on a practice’s online resource and written practice leaflet

    5. SCHEDULE 5

       Consequential amendments

       1. 1. (1) The National Health Service (Performers Lists) (Wales) Regulations 2004...

       2. 2. (1) The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Wales) Regulations 2020...

    6. SCHEDULE 6

       Revocation

       1. 1. The 2004 Regulations are revoked.

11. Explanatory Note