General Ophthalmic Services (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

5

A contractor shall secure that at each place at which he provides general ophthalmic services there is prominently displayed a notice and leaflet supplied or approved by the Agency, indicating the services available under general ophthalmic services and indicating to which descriptions of his patients a payment may be made under the Optical Charges and Payments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19898.

a

who, having been disqualified under paragraph 3(b)9 of Schedule 11 to the Order (or under any corresponding provision in force in England and Wales or Scotland) from inclusion in the ophthalmic list (or, in England and Wales, the ophthalmic list of a Health Authority, or, in Scotland, the ophthalmic list of a Health Board) is also the subject of a declaration under paragraph 3(c) of Schedule 11 to the Order (or any corresponding provision in force in England and Wales or Scotland) that he is not fit to be engaged in any capacity in the provision of general ophthalmic services; or

b

who is suspended by direction of the Tribunal, other than in a case falling within paragraph 8B(3) of Schedule 11 to the Order.

3

A contractor shall not employ in the provision of general ophthalmic services any person—

a

who, having been disqualified under paragraph 3(b) of Schedule 11 to the Order (or under any corresponding provision in force in England and Wales or Scotland) from inclusion in the ophthalmic list (or, in England and Wales, the ophthalmic list of a Health Authority, or, in Scotland, the ophthalmic list of a Health Board), is also the subject of a declaration under paragraph 3(c) of Schedule 11 to the Order (or any corresponding provision in force in England and Wales or Scotland) that he is not fit to be engaged in any capacity in the provision of general ophthalmic services; or

b

who is suspended by direction of the Tribunal, other than in a case falling within paragraph 8B(3) of Schedule 11 to the Order.

Complaints

8A

1

Subject to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3), a contractor shall establish, and operate in accordance with this paragraph, a procedure (in this paragraph and in paragraph 8B referred to as a “complaints procedure”) to deal with any complaints made by or on behalf of his patients and former patients.

2

The complaints procedure to be established by a contractor may be such that it also deals with complaints made in relation to one or more other contractors.

3

The complaints procedure to be established by a contractor who provides general ophthalmic services from more than one set of premises may be such that it relates to all those premises together.

4

A complaints procedure shall apply to complaints made in relation to any matter reasonably connected with the contractor’s provision of general ophthalmic services and within the responsibility or control of—

a

the contractor;

b

where the contractor is a body corporate, any of its directors or former directors;

c

a former partner of the contractor;

d

any other person (being an optician, an ophthalmic medical practitioner or a person authorised to test sight by rules made under section 24(3) of the Opticians Act 1989)10 who is either employed by the contractor or engaged as his deputy;

e

any employee of the contractor other than one falling within head (d),

and in this paragraph and paragraph 8B, references to complaints are to complaints falling within this sub-paragraph.

5

A complaint may be made on behalf of a patient or former patient with his consent, or—

a

where the patient is a child under the age of 16 years—

i

by either parent, or in the absence of both parents, the guardian or other adult person who has care of the child, or

ii

where the child is in the care of a Board or HSS trust to whose care he has been committed under the provisions of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968, by a person duly authorised by that Board or trust, or;

iii

where the child is in the care of a voluntary organisation, by that voluntary organisation or a person duly authorised by it, or

iv

where the child is in a training school, by the Manager of that training school;

b

where the patient is incapable of making a complaint, by a relative or other adult person who has an interest in his welfare.

6

Where a patient has died, a complaint may be made by a relative or other adult person who had an interest in his welfare or, where the patient was as described in head (a)(ii), (iii), or (iv), of sub-paragraph (5), by the Board, HSS trust, voluntary organisation, or the Manager of the training school.

7

A complaints procedure shall comply with the following requirements—

a

the contractor must specify a person (who need not be connected with the contractor and who, in the case of an individual, may be specified by his job title) to be responsible for receiving and investigating all complaints;

b

all complaints must be—

i

recorded in writing,

ii

acknowledged, either orally or in writing, within the period of three days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and Bank and Public Holidays) beginning with and including the day on which the complaint was received by the person specified under head (a) or where that is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable, and

iii

properly investigated;

c

within the period of 10 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and Bank and Public Holidays) beginning with and including the day on which the complaint was received by the person specified under head (a), or where that is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable, the complainant must be given a written summary of the investigation and its conclusions;

d

where the investigation of the complaint requires consideration of the patient’s sight testing records, the person specified under head (a) must inform the patient or person acting on his behalf if the investigation will involve disclosure of information contained in those records to a person other than the contractor, or a director, partner, deputy or employee of the contractor; and

e

the contractor must keep a record of all complaints and copies of all correspondence relating to complaints, but such records must be kept separate from patients' sight testing records.

8

At each of the premises at which the contractor provides general ophthalmic services he must provide information about the complaints procedure which he operates and give the name (or title) and address of the person specified under paragraph (7)(a).

8B

1

A contractor shall co-operate with any investigation of a complaint by the Board in accordance with the procedures which it operates in accordance with directions given under Article 17(1) of the Order, whether the investigation follows one under the contractor’s complaints procedure or not.

2

The co-operation required by sub-paragraph (1) includes—

a

answering questions reasonably put to the contractor by the Board;

b

providing any information relating to the complaint reasonably required by the Board; and

c

attending any meeting to consider the complaint (if held at a reasonably accessible place and at a reasonable hour, and due notice has been given), if the contractor’s presence at the meeting is reasonably required by the Board.

Complaints against ophthalmic medical practitioners8C

1

A contractor who, being an ophthalmic medical practitioner, also provides general medical services shall secure that the practice based complaints procedure he has established and operates in accordance with paragraph 11B of the doctor’s terms of service applies in relation to any matter reasonably connected with his provision of general ophthalmic services as it applies as respects his provision of general medical services.

2

Accordingly, paragraph 11C of those terms of service also applies in relation to complaints about such matters.