General Medical Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Temporary residents

25.—(1) A person who is ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland or to whom the provisions of the Health Services (Persons Not Ordinarily Resident in Northern Ireland) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1970(1) apply, who is residing temporarily in an area and who is not on the list of a doctor providing general medical services in that area, may, if he requires treatment, apply to any doctor to be accepted by him as a temporary resident.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), a person shall be regarded as temporarily resident in a place if, when he arrives in that place, he intends to stay there for more than 24 hours but not more than 3 months.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), a person who is accepted as a temporary resident shall not be removed from the list of any doctor in which he is already included.

(4) If the Agency is satisfied in relation to a person, after due enquiry—

(a) that his stay in the area of temporary residence has exceeded 3 months; and

(b) that he has not returned to the area of former residence,

it shall remove him from the doctor’s list of patients in the area of his former residence and, if practicable, inform him of that fact and of his entitlement to seek acceptance for inclusion in the list of any doctor, including the doctor by whom he has been treated as a temporary resident, in the area in which he is living.

(1)

S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1970 No. 56