Action by a respondent Health Authority on receipt of a notice of appeal
12.—(1) Where a respondent Health Authority receive a copy of a notice of appeal from the FHSAA in accordance with rule 29(3) they shall reply in accordance with the following paragraphs.
(2) The respondent Health Authority shall send or deliver to the FHSAA a written reply acknowledging service upon them of the notice of appeal and stating—
(a)the appellant’s professional registration number where applicable;
(b)whether or not they intend to oppose the appeal and if so, enclosing a brief statement of the grounds on which they rely in opposing the appeal; and
(c)where they intend to instruct a representative in relation to the appeal, the name and address of their representative and whether such address is their address for service for the purposes of the appeal.
(3) The respondent Health Authority shall include with their reply a statement summarising the facts relating to the disputed decision, and shall send or deliver their reply to the FHSAA together with a copy of any document on which they propose to rely.
(4) Every such reply shall be signed by an officer of the respondent Health Authority who is authorised to sign such documents or by their solicitor and shall be delivered to the FHSAA not later than 21 days after the date on which the copy of the notice of appeal was received by the Health Authority from the FHSAA.
(5) The respondent Health Authority may include in their reply, or by way of a separate notice to the FHSAA, a request for further particulars of the appeal.