The National Health Service (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations 2015

1. Introductory Text

2. PART 1 General

   1. 1. Citation and commencement

   2. 2. Application

   3. 3. Interpretation

   4. 3A. Variation of core hours while a disease is or in anticipation of a disease being imminently pandemic etc.

   5. 3B. Amendment and withdrawal of announcements and advice in respect of pandemics etc.

3. PART 2 Agreements

   1. 4. Conditions: general

   2. 5. General condition relating to all agreements

   3. 6. Notice of conditions not being met and reasons

   4. 7. Right of appeal

4. PART 3 Pre-agreement dispute resolution

   1. 8. Pre-agreement disputes

5. PART 4 Health Service Body Status

   1. 9. Health service body status

   2. 10. Health service body status: variation of agreements

   3. 11. Cessation of health service body status

6. PART 5 Agreements: required terms

   1. 12. Health service contract

   2. 13. Agreements: general

   3. 14. Membership of a CCG

   4. 15. Certificates

   5. 15A. Patients who should not be tested for, or vaccinated against, coronavirus: confirmation of exemption

   6. 16. Finance

   7. 17. Conditions about payments

   8. 18. Fees and charges

   9. 19. Circumstances in which fees and charges may be made

   10. 20. Patient participation

   11. 21. Publication of earnings information

   12. 21A. Disclosure of information about NHS earnings: contractors and sub-contractors

   13. 21B. Calculation of NHS earnings for the purposes of regulation 21A

   14. 22. Out of hours services

   15. 23. Sub-contracting

   16. 24. Variation of agreements

   17. 24A. Variation of agreements: integrated care provider contracts

   18. 25. Variation of agreements: registered patients from outside practice area

   19. 26. Termination of agreements

   20. 27. Other required terms

   21. 27A. Suspension of agreement terms or of enforcement of agreement terms while a disease is or in anticipation of a disease being imminently pandemic etc.

7. PART 6 Out of hours services: opt outs

   1. 28. Opt outs: interpretation

   2. 29. Opt outs: general

   3. 30. Opting out of out of hours service provision

   4. 31. Informing patients of opt outs

8. PART 7 Right to a general medical services contract

   1. 32. Right to a general medical services contract

9. PART 8 Persons who perform services

   1. 33. Qualifications of performers: medical practitioners

   2. 34. Qualifications of performers: health care professionals

   3. 35. Conditional registration or inclusion in a primary care list

   4. 36. Clinical experience

   5. 37. Conditions for employment and engagement: medical practitioners

   6. 38. Conditions for employment or engagement: health care professionals

   7. 39. Clinical references

   8. 40. Verification of qualifications and competence

   9. 41. Training

   10. 42. Arrangements for GP Specialty Registrars

   11. 43. Doctors with provisional registration

   12. 44. Notice requirements in respect of relevant prescribers

   13. 45. Signing of documents

   14. 46. Level of skill

   15. 47. Appraisal and assessment

10. PART 9 Prescribing and dispensing

    1. 48. Prescribing: general

    2. 49. Orders for drugs, medicines or appliances

    3. 50. Electronic prescriptions

    4. 51. Nomination of dispensers for the purpose of electronic prescriptions

    5. 52. Repeatable prescribing services

    6. 53. Repeatable prescriptions

    7. 53A. Prescribing for electronic repeat dispensing

    8. 54. Restrictions on prescribing by medical practitioners

    9. 55. Restrictions on prescribing by supplementary prescribers

    10. 56. Bulk prescribing

    11. 57. Excessive prescribing

    12. 58. Provision of drugs, medicines and appliances for immediate treatment or personal administration

11. PART 10 Prescribing and dispensing: out of hours services

    1. 59. Supply of medicines etc. by contractors providing out of hours services

12. PART 10A Vaccines and immunisations

    1. 59A. Part 10A: interpretation

    2. 59B. Vaccines and immunisations: duty of co-operation

    3. 59C. Vaccines and immunisations: appointments

    4. 59D. Vaccines and immunisations: catch-up campaigns

    5. 59E. Vaccines and immunisations: additional staff training

    6. 59F. Vaccines and immunisations: nominated person

    7. 59G. Vaccines and immunisations: exception for private arrangements

13. PART 11 Records and information

    1. 60. Patient records

    2. 60A. Record of ethnicity information

    3. 61. Summary Care Record

    4. 62. Electronic transfer of patient records between GP practices

    5. 62A. Transfer of patient records between GP practices: time limits

    6. 63. Clinical correspondence: requirement for NHS number

    7. 63A. Use of fax machines

    8. 64. Patient online services : appointments and prescriptions

    9. 64ZA. Patient online services: provision of online access to coded information in medical record and prospective medical record

    10. 64ZB. Patient online services: provision of online access to full digital medical record

    11. 64ZC. Patient online services: providing and updating personal or contact information

    12. 64ZD. Patient online services: provision of an online consultation tool

    13. 64ZE. Secure electronic communications

    14. 64ZF. Video consultations

    15. 64ZG. Meaning of “appropriate software” for the purposes of regulations 64ZD, 64ZE and 64ZF

    16. 64A. Patient access to online services

    17. 65. Confidentiality of personal data: nominated person

    18. 66. Requirement to have and maintain an online presence

    19. 66A. Requirement to maintain profile page on NHS website

    20. 67. Provision of information

    21. 67A. Provision of information: GP access data

    22. 67B. National Diabetes Audit

    23. 67C. Information relating to indicators no longer in the Quality and Outcomes Framework

    24. 67D. Information relating to alcohol related risk reduction and dementia diagnosis and treatment

    25. 67E. NHS Digital Workforce Collection

    26. 67F. Information relating to overseas visitors

    27. 67G. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Central Alerting System

    28. 67H. Collection of data relating to appointments in general practice

    29. 67I. Collection of data concerning use of online consultation tools and video consultations

    30. 68. Inquiries about prescriptions and referrals

    31. 69. Provision of information to a medical officer etc.

    32. 70. Annual return and review

    33. 71. Practice leaflet

14. PART 12 Complaints

    1. 72. Complaints procedure

    2. 73. Co-operation with investigations

15. PART 13 Dispute resolution

    1. 74. Local resolution of agreement disputes

    2. 75. Dispute resolution: non-NHS contracts

    3. 76. NHS dispute resolution procedure

    4. 77. Determination of dispute

    5. 78. Interpretation of this Part

16. PART 14 Miscellaneous

    1. 79. Clinical governance

    2. 80. Friends and Family Test

    3. 81. Co-operation with the Board

    4. 82. Co-operation with the Secretary of State and Health Education England

    5. 83. Insurance

    6. 84. Public liability insurance

    7. 85. Gifts

    8. 86. Compliance with legislation and guidance

    9. 87. Third party rights

17. PART 15 General transitional provision and saving, consequential amendments and revocations

    1. 88. General transitional provision and saving

    2. 89. Consequential amendments

    3. 90. Revocations

18. Signature

19. 1. SCHEDULE 1

       List of prescribed medical certificates

    2. SCHEDULE 2

       Other required terms

       1. PART 1 Provision of services

          1. 1. Services to registered patients

          2. 2. Premises

          3. 3. Telephone services

          4. 4. Cost of relevant calls

          5. 5. Attendance at practice premises

          6. 6. Attendance outside practice premises

          7. 7. Clinical reports

          8. 8. Storage of vaccines

          9. 9. Infection control

          10. 10. Duty of co-operation

          11. 10A. Duty of co-operation: Primary Care Networks

          12. 11. Cessation of service provision: information requests

       2. PART 2 Patients: general

          1. 12. General provision

          2. 13. List of patients

          3. 14. Newly registered patients – alcohol dependency screening

          4. 14A. Patients living with frailty

          5. 15. Accountable GP

          6. 16. Patients aged 75 years and over: accountable GP

          7. 16A. NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS)

          8. 16B. Direct booking by NHS 111 or via a connected service

          9. 17. Application for inclusion in a list of patients

          10. 18. Inclusion in list of patients: armed forces personnel

          11. 18A. Inclusion in list of patients: detained persons

          12. 19. Temporary residents

          13. 20. Refusal of applications for inclusion in list of patients or for acceptance as a temporary resident

          14. 21. Patient preference of a practitioner

          15. 22. Removal from the list at the request of the patient

          16. 23. Removal from the list at the request of the contractor

          17. 24. Removal from the list of patients who are violent

          18. 25. Removal from the list of patients registered elsewhere

          19. 26. Removal from the list of patients who have moved

          20. 27. Removal from list of patients whose address is unknown

          21. 28. Removal from the list of patients absent from the United Kingdom etc.

          22. 29. Removal from the list of patients accepted elsewhere as temporary residents

          23. 30. Removal from a list of pupils etc. of a school

          24. 31. Termination of responsibility for patients not registered with the contractor

       3. PART 2A List of patients: Crown servants posted overseas and their family members

          1. CHAPTER 1 Interpretation of Part 2A

             1. 31A. Meaning of “qualifying person”

             2. 31B. Qualifying persons to be treated as previous patients of contractors

             3. 31C. General interpretation of Part 2A

          2. CHAPTER 2 Crown servants and family members returning to the United Kingdom: registration with original or successor practice

             1. 31D. Crown servants and family members returning to the United Kingdom for more than three months: inclusion in list of original practice or successor practice

             2. 31E. Crown servants and family members returning to the United Kingdom for three months or less: temporary registration with original or successor practice

          3. CHAPTER 3 Crown servants and family members returning to the United Kingdom: registration with a new practice

             1. 31F. Crown servants and family members returning to the United Kingdom for more than three months: inclusion in list of patients of a new practice

             2. 31G. Crown servants and family members returning to the United Kingdom for three months or less: temporary registration with new practice

          4. CHAPTER 4 Refusal of applications made under this Part

             1. 31H. Refusal of an application under paragraphs 31D to 31G

       4. PART 3 List of patients: closure etc.

          1. 32. Application for closure of list of patients

          2. 33. Approval of an application to close a list of patients

          3. 34. Rejection of an application to close a list of patients

          4. 35. Application for an extension of the closure period

          5. 36. Re-opening of list of patients

       5. PART 4 Assignment of patients to lists

          1. 37. Application of this Part

          2. 38. Assignment of patients to list of patients: open and closed lists

          3. 39. Factors relevant to assignments

          4. 39A. Assignment of patients from outside practice area

          5. 40. Assignments to closed lists: composition and determinations of the assessment panel

          6. 41. Assignments to closed lists: NHS dispute resolution procedure relating to determinations of the assessment panel

          7. 42. Assignments to closed lists: assignments of patients by the Board

       6. PART 5 Sub-contracting

          1. 43. Sub-contracting of clinical matters

       7. PART 6 Provision of information: practice leaflet, use of NHS primary care logo, marketing campaigns and advertising private services

          1. 44. Information to be included in a practice leaflet

          2. 44A. Use of NHS primary care logo

          3. 44B. Marketing campaigns

          4. 44C. Advertising private services

       8. PART 7 Notice requirements and rights of entry

          1. 45. Notices to the Board

          2. 46. Notice provisions specific to an agreement with a qualifying body

          3. 47. Notice of deaths

          4. 48. Notices given to patients following variation of the agreement

          5. 49. Entry and inspection by the Board

          6. 50. Entry and inspection by the Care Quality Commission

          7. 51. Entry and inspection by Local Healthwatch organisations

       9. PART 8 Variation and termination of agreements

          1. 52. Variation of an agreement

          2. 53. Termination by agreement

          3. 54. Termination on death of the contractor

          4. 55. Termination by giving notice

          5. 56. Late payment notices

          6. 57. Termination by the Board for the provision of untrue etc. information

          7. 58. Other grounds for termination by the Board

          8. 59. Termination by the Board where patients' safety is at risk or where there is risk of financial loss to the Board

          9. 60. Termination by the Board for unlawful sub-contracting

          10. 61. Termination by the Board: remedial notices and breach notices

          11. 62. Termination by the Board: additional provisions specific to agreements with qualifying bodies

          12. 63. Agreement sanctions

          13. 64. Agreement sanctions and the NHS dispute resolution procedure

          14. 65. Termination and the NHS dispute resolution procedure

    3. SCHEDULE 2A

       Suspension and reactivation of personal medical services agreements

       1. 1. Interpretation

       2. 2. Right to suspend a personal medical services agreement

       3. 3. Integrated care provider contracts

       4. 4. Notice of intention to suspend a personal medical services agreement

       5. 5. Suspension of a personal medical services agreement: general

       6. 6. Notice of intention to reactivate a personal medical services agreement

       7. 7. Right to reactivate a personal medical services agreement

       8. 8. Reactivation of a personal medical services agreement: general

       9. 9. Termination, expiry or variation of an integrated care provider contract

    4. SCHEDULE 3

       Consequential amendments

       1. 1. Amendment of the Primary Medical Services (Sale of Goodwill and Restrictions on Sub-contracting) Regulations 2004

       2. 2. Amendment of the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009

       3. 3. Amendment of the National Health Service (Functions of the First-tier Tribunal relating to Primary Medical, Dental and Ophthalmic Services) Regulations 2010

       4. 4. Amendment of the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013

       5. 5. Amendment of the National Health Service (Clinical Commissioning Groups – Disapplication of Responsibility) Regulations 2013

       6. 6. Amendment to the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No 2) Regulations 2013

       7. 7. Amendment of the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2015

    5. SCHEDULE 4

       Revocations

       1. 1. The enactments specified in column 1 of the Table to...

20. Explanatory Note