The General Medical Services and Section 17C Agreements (Transitional and other Ancillary Provisions) (Scotland) Order 2004

Assignment of patients: transitional agreements

55.—(1) A Health Board may require a provider to assign a patient to a medical practitioner who performs personal medical services in connection with a transitional agreement to which the provider is a party.

(2) Where a Health Board is considering requiring a provider to assign a patient to a medical practitioner under paragraph (1), it shall have regard to_

(a) the wishes and circumstance of the patient to be assigned;

(b) the distance between the patient’s place of residence and the provider’s practice premises;

(c) whether, during the six months ending on the date on which the application for assignment is received by the Health Board, the patient’s name has been removed from the list of patients of any provider of essential services (or their equivalent) in the area of the Health Board under paragraph 13 of Schedule 2 to the Section 17C Agreements Regulations (or other equivalent provision);

(d) whether the patient’s name has been removed from the list of patients of any provider of essential services (or their equivalent) under paragraph 14 of Schedule 2 to the Section 17C Agreement Regulations (or other equivalent provision);

(e) such other matters as the Health Board considers relevant.

(3) Where a provider is unable to comply, in accordance with this article or regulation 5 of the Choice Regulations (as modified by article 54) with a requirement to assign a patient to a medical practitioner, and the Health Board is satisfied, after due enquiry, that the person concerned still wishes to be assigned to a provider of essential services (or their equivalent), the Health Board shall as soon as practicable assign or require the assignment of, that person to another provider of essential services (or their equivalent) or medical practitioner in accordance with any relevant agreement, contract or enactment.

(4) A medical practitioner to whom a patient is assigned under this article or regulation 5 of the Choice Regulations (as modified by article 54) shall not be required to provide child health surveillance services, contraceptive services, maternity medical services or minor surgery services for that patient unless he is obliged to provide those services to that patient in connection with a transitional agreement.

(5) Where a provider has requested the Health Board to remove a patient from a medical practitioner’s list or a pooled list under a provision equivalent to paragraph 14 of Schedule 2 to the Section 17C Agreements Regulations, the Health Board shall take all reasonable steps to assign, or require the assignment of, the patient to another provider of essential services (or their equivalent) or medical practitioner before the end of the working day after the day on which the Health Board receives notification from the contractor.

(6) In paragraph (5)–

“a medical practitioner’s list” means a list of a medical practitioner’s patients kept by a Health Board in respect of a medical practitioner performing personal medical services under a transitional agreement, in accordance with directions made under section 2(5) of the 1978 Act; and

“a pooled list” means a list of persons who have been accepted by a provider for the provision of personal medical services under a transitional agreement, and whose names are not included in a medical practitioner’s list.