The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Wales) Regulations 2023

PART 4 Health service body status

Health service body status: election

10.—(1) A person who proposes to enter into a contract with a Local Health Board (“a proposed contractor”) may elect, by giving notice in writing to the Local Health Board prior to entering into the contract, to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 7 of the Act.

(2) An election made by a proposed contractor under paragraph (1) has effect beginning with the date on which the contract in entered into.

(3) If, by virtue of paragraph (1) a proposed contractor elects to be regarded as a health service body, the nature of, or any rights or liabilities arising under, any other contract previously entered into by that proposed contractor with a health service body before the date of that election remains unaffected.

(4) Paragraph (5) applies where—

(a) a contractor who is an individual medical practitioner enters, or two or more persons practising in a partnership enter, into a contract with the Local Health Board, and

(b) that contractor is to be regarded as a health service body in accordance with paragraph (1).

(5) Subject to regulation 11, the contractor is to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 7 of the Act (NHS contracts) for as long as that contract continues irrespective of any change in—

(a) the partners comprising the partnership,

(b) the status of the contractor from that of an individual medical practitioner to that of a partnership, or

(c) the status of the contractor from that of a partnership to that of an individual medical practitioner.

Health service body status: variation of contracts

11.—(1) A contractor may at any time request in writing a variation of the contract to include in, or remove from, the contract provision to the effect that the contract is an NHS contract and, if it does so—

(a) the Local Health Board must agree to the variation, and

(b) the procedure specified in regulation 27 and Part 11 of Schedule 3 for the variation of contracts applies.

(2) If, by virtue of a request under paragraph (1), the contractor is to be regarded as a health service body any rights or liabilities under any other contract with a health service body entered into by the contractor before the date on which the contractor is so regarded remain unaffected.

(3) Where the Local Health Board agrees to the variation to the contract, the contractor must—

(a) be regarded, or

(b) subject to regulation 12, cease to be regarded,

as a health service body for the purposes of section 7 of the Act beginning with the date that the variation is to take effect pursuant to regulation 27 and Part 11 of Schedule 3.

Cessation of health service body status

12.—(1) A contractor ceases to be a health service body for the purposes of section 7 of the Act (NHS contracts) if the contract terminates.

(2) Where, by virtue of paragraph (1), a contractor ceases to be a health service body in relation to a contract (“the relevant contract”), the contractor is to continue to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of any other NHS contract to which it became a party between the date on which it became a health service body in relation to the relevant contract and the date on which it ceased to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of that contract (but it ceases to be a health service body for the purposes of such other NHS contract on the termination of that contract).

(3) Where—

(a) a contractor ceases to be regarded as a health service body in relation to a contract by reason of either paragraph (1) or a variation of the contract by virtue of regulation 11(1), and

(b) the contractor or the Local Health Board—

(i) has referred any matter to the NHS dispute resolution procedure before the contractor ceases to be a health service body, or

(ii) refers any matter that occurred during the period when the contractor was regarded as a health service body to the NHS dispute resolution procedure, in accordance with paragraph 106 of Schedule 3, after it ceases to be a health service body,

the contractor is to continue to be regarded as a health service body (and accordingly the contract is to continue to be regarded as an NHS contract) for the purposes of the consideration and determination of the dispute.

(4) Where a contractor continues to be regarded as a health service body by virtue of regulation 12(3) for the purposes of the NHS dispute resolution procedure, the contractor ceases to be regarded as a health service body for those purposes on the conclusion of that procedure.