Charges for Drugs and Appliances Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Supply, replacement and repair of appliances to out-patients by Boards and HSS trusts

6.—(1) Where an appliance supplied under arrangements made by a Board or an HSS trust is, at the request of the person supplied, of a more expensive type than the standard type, or where an appliance which has been so supplied is repaired under those arrangements, the Board or HSS trust may charge and recover from the person so supplied, or for whom such repair is undertaken, a sum representing the difference between the cost of supplying or repairing such appliance and the cost of supplying or repairing an appliance of the type which would normally be supplied.

(2) Where an appliance supplied under arrangements made by a Board or an HSS trust requires to be replaced or repaired, and the Board or HSS trust has reason to believe that such replacement or repair is necessitated by an act or omission of the person supplied or (if it occurred when he was under sixteen years of age) of his or of the person having charge of him when it occurred, the Board or HSS trust may appoint a person or persons to investigate the matter.

(3) The person or persons so appointed shall make such inquiry into the matter as they think fit, and if in their opinion the circumstances so require or if the person concerned so demands, the inquiry shall take the form of an oral hearing.

(4) The persons holding such inquiry shall report to the Board or the HSS trust who shall determine whether the replacement or repair is necessitated by an act or omission of the person supplied or (if it occurred when he was under sixteen years of age) of his or of the person having charge of him when it occurred. The Board or HSS trust may, if it thinks fit, delegate the responsibility for determining whether the replacement or repair is necessitated by such an act or omission, to a committee of the Board or the HSS trust. The said committee may be appointed ad hoc or may be a standing committee appointed for the consideration of such questions.

(5) The Board or the HSS trust may recover from the person supplied, or (if the act or omission necessitating repairs or replacement occurred when he was under sixteen years of age) the person having charge of him when it occurred, the whole or any part of the cost of replacement or repair of an appliance determined in the manner aforesaid to have been necessitated by an act or omission on the part of the person supplied or (if it occurred when he was under sixteen years of age) of his or of the person having charge of him when it occurred.