The National Health Service (Local Pharmaceutical Services and Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2002

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision in connection with the establishment of pilot schemes for the provision of local pharmaceutical services under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001.

Regulation 2 defines “local pharmaceutical services”. Regulation 3 allows a Health Authority to designate a neighbourhood or premises at which local pharmaceutical services are to be provided under a pilot scheme, and that regulation, together with regulations 4, 5 and 6, provides for the circumstances in which designations may or must be made, varied, reviewed or cancelled.

Regulation 10 amends the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992 to allow a Health Authority to defer consideration of certain applications to be included in a pharmaceutical list where the pharmaceutical services are to be provided from premises which are the subject of a designation.

Regulation 7 makes provision regarding the supply of information in connection with requests to a Health Authority by persons wishing to participate in a pilot scheme.

Regulation 8 allows a Health Authority to make a payment of financial assistance to a person who wishes to participate in a pilot scheme. Payments may be made in respect of work reasonably undertaken in connection with preparing proposals for a pilot scheme or, as the case may be, preparing for the provision of piloted services. An application for either type of financial assistance must specify the purposes for which the applicant intends to use the payment and payments may be made only in respect of costs which have been incurred for those purposes by the relevant date. Regulation 9 provides that a Health Authority may impose conditions designed to require a person who is given financial assistance to return all or part of the payment made, if it is subsequently discovered that costs were not in fact incurred by the relevant date or for the purposes specified in the application.