71ZF.—(1) A contractor must offer and promote to its registered patients the facility of participating in their consultations with the contractor by video conference using appropriate software (“video consultations”).
(2) But paragraph (1) does not require the contractor to offer a patient a video consultation where—
(a)it would not be clinically appropriate to do so for the patient on that occasion, or
(b)it is otherwise not appropriate to the needs or circumstances of the patient.
(3) The contractor must not be party to a contract or other arrangement under which the software mentioned in paragraph (1) is provided unless—
(a)it is satisfied that any software which a patient needs to participate in a video consultation with the contractor’s practice is available free of charge to the patient, and
(b)it has taken reasonable steps, having regard to the arrangement as a whole and disregarding the costs of any software, to satisfy itself that patients will not have to pay more to participate in video consultations with the contractor’s practice than they would to participate in a meeting by video conference with any other person in the contractor’s area.]
Textual Amendments