The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make changes to the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2005 (“the Principal Regulations”).

The definition of supplementary prescriber is amended to include trained optometrists who are now authorised to prescribe (regulation 2).

The Principal Regulations provided for a body corporate to provide fitness to practise information under paragraph 29 or 30 of Schedule 1, or paragraph 18 of Schedule 3, to the Principal Regulations only to the Primary Care Trust in which its registered office is located (and not all Primary Care Trusts in which its name is included in the pharmaceutical list). This principle is extended so that a body corporate that wishes to be included in a pharmaceutical list (or another pharmaceutical list) need only provide information to its home Primary Care Trust. The home Primary Care Trust is required to consider the information provided and make a recommendation. It is then required, if requested to do so, to pass the recommendation (and the related information) on to the Primary Care Trust or Trusts on whose list the body corporate has applied for inclusion (regulations 3(2), 6, 17, 19, 21 and 23).

The minor relocation procedure no longer applies to a chemist who has taken advantage of the exemption provision relating to an approved retail area and who then wishes to relocate out of that retail area (regulations 4 and 5).

The grounds for refusing applications concerning controlled localities from chemists and dispensing doctors are now dealt with separately (regulations 8, 9 and 13(1)).

Amendments are made to regulation 50 concerning the procedure for suspension of a chemist, the main purpose of which is to enable a Primary Care Trust to suspend a chemist much more quickly in appropriate cases (regulation 16).

Other minor changes are—

(a) the clarification that one or more providers of primary medical services may work together within a one stop primary care centre (regulation 7);

(b) Primary Care Trusts must notify decisions to certain persons within a specific timescale (regulation 10);

(c) extending the timescale for giving notification of applications in controlled localities (regulation 12); and

(d) extending regulation 47(2) to superintendents (regulation 15).

Further amendments are required to correct errors in the Principal Regulations (regulations 3(1), 11, 13(2), 14, 18, 20, 21(2) and 22).