The Health and Personal Social Services (Primary Medical Services) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These regulations make amendments to The Health and Personal Social Services (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 and The Health and Personal Social Services (Primary Medical Services Performers Lists) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004. In particular, it:

Provides that following the coming into force of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, provisions that relate to a spouse will also relate to a civil partner (regulations 2 (a) and 5(f));

Makes amendments to reflect changes to the arrangements for independent prescribing by nurses and pharmacists. There will be a new category of prescriber known as a Pharmacist Independent Prescriber, and new arrangements for independent prescribing by nurses – which require consequential amendments to the titles of nurses who have trained to prescribe (regulations 2 (b), (c) and (d), and 5(a), (d) and (e));

Provides that a contract may be entered into with a person notwithstanding the fact that they have been removed from office as a trustee for a charity, provided such removal did not take place within the previous 5 years (regulation 3);

Amends the provision relating to payments under a GMS contract to clarify that payments should be made by either party in accordance with any relevant directions (regulation 4); and

Makes provision in respect of a new category postgraduate medical training to provide that doctors undergoing such a programme may perform medical services even though they are not on a Health and Social Services Board’s Performers Lists and do not have to provide two clinical references (regulations 5(b) and (c) and 6).