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

    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