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

Services: general E+W

18.—(1) A contract must specify—

(a) the services to be provided,

(b) subject to paragraph (4), the address of each of the premises to be used by the contractor or any sub-contractor for the provision of such services,

(c) the persons to whom such services are to be provided,

(d) the area (the contractor’s “practice area”) as respects which persons resident in it are, subject to any other terms of the contract relating to patient registration, entitled to—

(i) register with the contractor, or

(ii) seek acceptance by the contractor as a temporary resident, and

(e) whether, beginning with the date on which the contract comes into force, the contractor’s list of patients is open or closed.

(2) A contract must also—

(a) contain a term which requires the contractor to—

(i) make appointments for unified services available to its patients for such proportion of the core hours on each working day as is appropriate to meet the reasonable needs of those patients,

(ii) have in place arrangements for its patients to access unified services throughout the core hours in case of emergency,

(iii) ensure that all practice premises, other than any practice premises specified in paragraph (3), are open and physically accessible to patients—

(aa) at all times between 8.30am and 6.00pm on each working day, and

(bb) for such other periods in core hours as may be required to enable the contractor to comply with the requirements in regulation 17, regulation 18 and Schedule 3, and

(b) state the period (if any) for which any services, other than unified services, are to be provided.

(3) The practice premises specified in this paragraph are those for which the Local Health Board has agreed, in writing with the contractor, more limited opening hours because the practice premises are not one of the contractor’s main sites.

(4) The premises referred to in paragraph (1)(b) do not include—

(a) the homes of patients, or

(b) any other premises where services are provided on an emergency basis.

(5) Where, on the date on which the contract is signed, the Local Health Board is not satisfied that all or any of the premises specified in accordance with paragraph (1)(b) meet the requirements set out in paragraph 1 of Schedule 3, the contract must include a plan, drawn up jointly by the Local Health Board and the contractor, which specifies—

(a) the steps taken by the contractor to bring the premises up to the relevant standard,

(b) any financial support that may be available from the Local Health Board, and

(c) the timescale in which the steps referred to in sub-paragraph (a) are to be taken.

(6) Where, in accordance with paragraph (1)(e), the contract specifies that the contractor’s list of patients is closed the contract must also specify in relation to that closure each of the items listed in paragraph 39(2) of Schedule 3.

(7) The Local Health Board may, in exceptional circumstances or for protected learning time, give prior written agreement for contractors to temporarily reduce the hours during which they provide unified services on a working day, subject to the contractor having in place arrangements for its patients to maintain access to unified services throughout the core hours on that working day in case of emergency.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 18 in force at 1.10.2023, see reg. 1(2)