32.—(1) Where a contractor is providing essential services under the agreement and would like to enter into a general medical services contract by virtue of this regulation, the contractor must give notice in writing to the Board to that effect at least three months before the date on which the contractor would like to enter into the general medical services contract.
(2) A notice given under paragraph (1) must—
(a)state that the contractor wants to terminate the agreement and the date on which the contractor would like the agreement to terminate, which must be at least three months after the date on which the notice was given;
(b)subject to paragraph (3), give the names of the person or persons with whom the contractor wants the Board to enter into a general medical services contract; and
(c)confirm that the person or persons so named meet the conditions set out in section 86 of the Act M1 (persons eligible to enter into GMS contracts) and regulations 5 (conditions relating solely to general medical practitioners) and 6 (general condition relating to all contracts) of the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations or, where the contractor is not able so to confirm, provide the reason why it is not able to do so together with confirmation that the person or persons will, immediately prior to entering into the general medical services contract, meet those conditions.
(3) A person's name may only be given in a notice referred to in paragraph (1) if that person is a party to the agreement.
(4) The Board must acknowledge receipt of the notice given under paragraph (1) before the end of the period of seven days beginning with the date on which the Board received the notice.
(5) Provided that the conditions set out in section 86 of the Act (persons eligible to enter into GMS contracts) and regulations 5 and 6 of the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations are met, the Board must enter into a general medical services contract with the person or persons named in the notice given under paragraph (1).
(6) In addition to the terms required by the Act and the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations, a general medical services contract entered into by virtue of this regulation must provide for—
(a)the general medical services contract to commence immediately after the termination of the agreement;
(b)the names of the patients included in the contractor's list of patients immediately before the termination of the agreement to be included in the first list of patients to be prepared and maintained by the Board under paragraph 17 of Schedule 3 to the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations;
(c)the same services to be provided under the general medical services contract as were provided under the agreement immediately before it was terminated unless the parties otherwise agree; and
(d)the opt out of the provision of out of hours services referred to in paragraph (7) in accordance with the terms specified in Part 6 of the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations (opt outs: additional and out of hours services).
(7) The out of hours services are the services which the contractor was providing under the agreement in accordance with regulation 22 immediately before its termination and which the general medical services contract continues to require the contractor to provide.
(8) An agreement is to terminate on the date stated in the notice given by the contractor under paragraph (1) unless a different date is agreed by the contractor and the Board or no general medical services contract is entered into by the Board by virtue of this regulation.
(9) Where there is a dispute as to whether or not a person satisfies the conditions set out in section 86 of the Act (persons eligible to enter into a GMS contract), or of regulations 5 and 6 of the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations, the contractor may appeal to the First-tier Tribunal M2 under this regulation and the Board is to be the respondent.
(10) Any other dispute relating to this regulation is to be determined by the Secretary of State in accordance with regulation 9(2) and (3) of the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations.
(11) The parties to a dispute referred to the Secretary of State in accordance with paragraph (10) are the contractor and the Board.
Marginal Citations
M1Section 86 was amended by paragraph 32 of Schedule 4 to the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (c.7).
M2The First-tier Tribunal was established in 2008 by Part 1 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (c.15). The Health, Education and Social Chamber is responsible for hearing appeals concerning matters relating to the Health Service in England and Wales.