The National Health Service (Service Committees and Tribunal) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Service Committees and Tribunal) (Scotland) Regulations 1992 (“the principal Regulations”) which make provision as to the investigation of matters relating to services provided by doctors, dentists, pharmacists, ophthalmic medical practitioners and opticians under arrangements with Health Boards and primary care NHS trusts.

These Regulations amend the principal Regulations in relation to the investigation of matters relating to doctors. These amendments follow:–

(a) the repeal of section 19 in Part II of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (“the 1978 Act”) by the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 (“the 2004 Act”); and

(b) the coming into force of section 17P of the 1978 Act (as inserted by section 5(2) of the 2004 Act), and regulations made under it, providing for lists of medical practitioners (“primary medical services performers lists”) who may perform primary medical services under Part I of the 1978 Act which a Health Board is under a duty to provide.

These changes have meant, amongst other things, that arrangements are no longer made by Health Boards with medical practitioners included on a medical list for the provision by them of general medical services. Instead all doctors who perform primary medical services, pursuant to an arrangement made by them or under an arrangement made by another person with a Health Board, must be included in primary medical services performers lists. Doctors included on primary medical services performers lists must comply with certain requirements set out in regulations made under section 17P of the 1978 Act. Accordingly these Regulations substitute or revoke provisions relating to the investigation of matters relating to services provided by doctors under arrangements with Health Boards in the principal Regulations and replace them with provisions relating to the investigation of matters relating to the performance of primary medical services by doctors.

In particular these Regulations amend the principal Regulations in respect of doctors to–

(a) amend the definition of “complaint” to include complaints made in accordance with certain directions against practitioners providing or performing services under Part I of the 1978 Act, or pursuant to the terms of certain arrangements for the provision of primary medical services (regulation 2(2)(a)(i) and (b));

(b) amend the definition of “doctor” to exclude all but certain ophthalmic medical practitioners (regulation 2(2)(a)(ii));

(c) amend who may be a member of a doctor’s panel for the purposes of the principal Regulations (regulation 2(2)(a)(iii));

(d) amend provision for the service of notices on doctors (regulation 2(2)(a)(vi) and (9));

(e) amend the definition of “terms of service” to refer to the requirements with which doctors included in primary medical services performers lists must comply (regulation 2(2)(a)(vii));

(f) amend the provision as to which Health Board will be the appropriate Health Board in relation to an investigation (regulation 2(3)(a));

(g) revoke provisions regarding the investigation of doctors in respect of the acts or omissions of a deputy and in respect of the acts or omissions of doctors whilst acting as a deputy (regulation 2(3)(b) and (10));

(h) revoke the sanction of imposing a limit on the number of persons for whom a doctor may undertake to provide treatment (regulation 2(5)(a) and (b), (6) and (7)(b));

(i) make provision as to which Health Board shall take action where an amount is to be recovered from a doctor (regulation 2(5)(c) and (d), (7)(a) and (c));

(j) revoke provisions for the investigation of certain matters regarding doctors and circumstances in which special procedures apply (regulation 2(8) and (12));

(k) amend the failures to comply with requirements that are specified in relation to a doctor, for the purposes of requiring the Scottish Ministers to refer any question of recovery of an amount from the doctor to an advisory committee, before they consider the question of recovery for that failure (regulation 2(11)); and

(l) insert or omit definitions relevant to these amendments (regulation 2(2)(a)(ix) and (x)).

These Regulations also make transitional provision in respect of investigations in relation to certain matters relating to doctors (regulation 3).

These Regulations also amend the principal Regulations to–

(a) remove references to primary care NHS trusts, following the dissolution of these bodies (regulation 2(2)(a)(ix), (4) and (13));

(b) amend the meaning of “treatment” for certain purposes (regulation 2(3)(a)(viii)); and

(c) amend references to other Regulations, the provisions of other Regulations, or statements published under other Regulations to be references to the Regulations, provisions or statements which have subsequently replaced them (regulation 2(2)(a)(iv), (v), (vii), (ix) and (x)).