(1)Section 44 of the 1977 Act (recognition of local representative committees) is amended in accordance with subsections (2) to (7).
(2)Before subsection (A1) there is inserted—
“(ZA1)A Primary Care Trust may recognise a committee formed for its area, or for the area of that and one or more other Primary Care Trusts, which it is satisfied is representative of—
(a)the medical practitioners providing general medical services or general ophthalmic services in the Primary Care Trust’s area;
(b)those medical practitioners and the deputy medical practitioners for the Primary Care Trust’s area;
(c)the medical practitioners mentioned in—
(i)paragraph (a) above; or
(ii)paragraph (b) above,
and the section 28C medical practitioners for the Primary Care Trust’s area,
and any committee so recognised shall be called the Local Medical Committee for the Primary Care Trust’s area.”
(3)After subsection (A1) there is inserted—
“(A2)A Primary Care Trust may recognise a committee formed for its area, or for the area of that and one or more other Primary Care Trusts, which it is satisfied is representative of—
(a)the dental practitioners providing general dental services in the Primary Care Trust’s area;
(b)those dental practitioners and the deputy dental practitioners for the Primary Care Trust’s area;
(c)the dental practitioners mentioned in—
(i)paragraph (a) above; or
(ii)paragraph (b) above,
and the section 28C dental practitioners for the Primary Care Trust’s area,
and any committee so recognised shall be called the Local Dental Committee for the Primary Care Trust’s area.”
(4)After subsection (B1) there is inserted—
“(B2)Where a Primary Care Trust is satisfied that a committee formed for its area, or for its area together with the area of one or more other Primary Care Trusts, is representative—
(a)of the ophthalmic opticians providing general ophthalmic services in the Primary Care Trust’s area; or
(b)of the persons providing pharmaceutical services from premises in the Primary Care Trust’s area,
the Primary Care Trust may recognise that committee; and any committee so recognised shall be called the Local Optical Committee or the Local Pharmaceutical Committee, as the case may be, for the area of the Primary Care Trust.”
(5)In subsection (2), “with the approval of the Health Authority” is omitted.
(6)In subsection (3)—
(a)in each of paragraphs (a) and (c), before “Health Authority” there is inserted “Primary Care Trust or”,
(b)after paragraph (a) there is inserted—
“(aa)is a section 28C medical practitioner for the area of a Primary Care Trust if he is a medical practitioner who performs personal medical services in the area of the Primary Care Trust in accordance with arrangements made under section 28C above;”, and
(c)after paragraph (c) there is inserted—
“(ca)is a section 28C dental practitioner for the area of a Primary Care Trust if he is a dental practitioner who performs personal dental services in the area of the Primary Care Trust in accordance with arrangements made under section 28C above;”.
(7)In subsection (4), after “notified the” there is inserted “Primary Care Trust or”.
(8)Section 45 of the 1977 Act (functions of local representative committees) is amended as follows.
(9)After subsection (1) there is inserted—
“(1ZA)Regulations may require—
(a)Primary Care Trusts, in the exercise of their functions under this Part of this Act, to consult committees recognised by them under section 44 above,
(b)Strategic Health Authorities, in the exercise of any of their functions which relate to arrangements under section 28C above, to consult committees recognised under section 44(ZA1)(c) or (A2)(c) above by Primary Care Trusts for the area or areas where the personal medical or dental services are provided (or to be provided) under the arrangements,
on such occasions and to such extent as may be prescribed.”
(10)In subsection (1A)—
(a)for “power conferred by subsection (1) above is” there is substituted “powers conferred by subsections (1) and (1ZA) above are”, and
(b)after “require a” there is inserted “Strategic Health Authority, Primary Care Trust or”.
(11)In subsection (1C)—
(a)for “subsection (A1)(b) or (c) or (B1)(b) or (c)” there is substituted “subsection (ZA1)(b) or (c), (A1)(b) or (c), (A2)(b) or (c) or (B1)(b) or (c)”,
(b)before paragraph (a) there is inserted—
“(za)in the case of a committee recognised under subsection (ZA1)(b) or (c)(ii) of that section, to the deputy medical practitioners for the Primary Care Trust’s area;
(zb)in the case of a committee recognised under subsection (ZA1)(c) of that section, to the section 28C medical practitioners for that area;”, and
(c)after paragraph (b) there is inserted—
“(ba)in the case of a committee recognised under subsection (A2)(b) or (c)(ii) of that section, to the deputy dental practitioners for the Primary Care Trust’s area;
(bb)in the case of a committee recognised under subsection (A2)(c) of that section, to the section 28C dental practitioners for that area;”.
(12)In each of subsections (2) and (3), before “Health Authority”, in each place where it occurs, there is inserted “Primary Care Trust or”.