The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004

Termination of responsibility for patients not registered with the contractor

28.—(1) Where a contractor—

(a) has received an application for the provision of medical services other than essential services—

(i) from a person who is not included in its list of patients,

(ii) from a person whom it has not accepted as a temporary resident, or

(iii) on behalf of a person mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) or (ii), from one of the persons specified in paragraph 15(4); and

(b) has accepted that person as a patient for the provision of the service in question,

its responsibility for that patient shall be terminated in the circumstances referred to in sub-paragraph (2).

(2) The circumstances referred to in sub-paragraph (1) are—

(a) the patient informs the contractor that he no longer wishes it to be responsible for provision of the service in question;

(b) in cases where the contractor has reasonable grounds for terminating its responsibility which do not relate to the person’s race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition, the contractor informs the patient that it no longer wishes to be responsible for providing him with the service in question; or

(c) it comes to the notice of the contractor that the patient—

(i) no longer resides in the area for which the contractor has agreed to provide the service in question, or

(ii) is no longer included in the list of patients of another contractor to whose registered patients the contractor has agreed to provide that service.

(3) A contractor which wishes to terminate its responsibility for a patient under sub-paragraph (2)(b) shall notify the patient of the termination and the reason for it.

(4) The contractor shall keep a written record of terminations under this paragraph and of the reasons for them and shall make this record available to the Primary Care Trust on request.

(5) A termination under sub-paragraph (2)(b) shall take effect—

(a) from the date on which the notice is given where the grounds for termination are those specified in paragraph 21(1); or

(b) in all other cases, 14 days from the date on which the notice is given.