The General Medical Services Transitional and Consequential Provisions (No. 1) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the General Medical Services Transitional and Consequential Provisions (No. 1) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 and shall come into operation on 29th March 2004.

(2) In this Order –

“the 1972 Order” means the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972(1);

“the 1983 Act” means the Medical Act 1983(2);

“the 1991 Order” means the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(3);

“the 1997 Regulations” means the General Medical Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(4);

“the 2004 Regulations” means the Health and Personal Social Services (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004(5);

“additional services” has the same meaning as in the 2004 Regulations;

“the Agency” means the Northern Ireland Central Services Agency for the Health and Social Services established under Article 26 of the 1972 Order;

“Board” means the Heath and Social Services Board which is a party, or prospective party, to the contract;

“the Choice Regulations” means the Health Services (Choice of Medical Practitioner) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998(6);

“contractor” has the same meaning as in Article 57 of the 1972 Order(7);

“contractor’s list of patients” means the list prepared and maintained by the Board under the term of a general medical services contract which gives effect to paragraph 14 of Schedule 5 to the 2004 Regulations or under the equivalent term of a default contract or of contractual arrangements made under Article 15;

“core hours” means the period beginning at 8 am and ending at 6.30 pm on any day from Monday to Friday except a public holiday and a local holiday agreed with the Board;

“default contract” means a contract entered into under Article 13;

“essential services” means the services described in regulation 15(3), (5), (6) and (8) of the 2004 Regulations;

“general medical services contract” shall be construed in accordance with Article 57 of the Order;

“global sum” has the same meaning as in the Statement of Financial Entitlements;

“immediate family member” has the same meaning as in the 2004 Regulations;

“Local Medical Committee” means –

(a)

until 1st April 2004, a committee recognised under Article 55 of the 1972 Order(8), and

(b)

from that date, a committee recognised under Article 55B of that Order(9);

“medical list” means a list prepared by a Board under regulation 4 (medical list) of the 1997 Regulations;

“Medical Register” means the registers kept under section 2 of the 1983 Act(10);

“the Order” means the Primary Medical Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2004;

“out of hours period” means –

(a)

the period beginning at 6.30pm on any day from, and including, Monday to Thursday and ending at 8am on the following day,

(b)

the period between 6.30 pm on and including Friday and 8 am on the following Monday, and

(c)

any public holiday or local holiday agreed with the Board;

“out of hours services” means services required to be provided in all or part of the out of hours period which –

(a)

would be essential services if provided in core hours, or

(b)

are included –

(i)

in a default contract as additional services funded under Article 35(2), or

(ii)

in a general medical services contract as additional services funded under the global sum;

“practice premises” means the address specified in the contract as the one at which services are to be provided under the contract;

“primary medical services performers list” means the list of persons performing primary medical services prepared in accordance with regulations made under Article 57G of the 1972 Order (persons performing primary medical services)(11);

“registered patient” means –

(a)

a person who is recorded by the Board as being on the contractor’s list of patients, or

(b)

a person whom the contractor has accepted for inclusion on his list of patients, whether or not notification of that acceptance has been received by the Board and who has not been notified by the Board as having ceased to be on that list;

“relevant service” means –

(a)

whole-time service in the armed forces of the Crown in a national emergency as a volunteer or otherwise,

(b)

compulsory whole-time service in those forces, including service resulting from any reserve liability, or

(c)

any equivalent service by a person liable for compulsory whole-time service in those forces;

“Statement of Financial Entitlements” has the meaning given in Article 35;

“temporary resident” means a person accepted by the contractor as a temporary resident under the term of a general medical services contract which gives effect to paragraph 16 of Schedule 5 to the 2004 Regulations, or the equivalent term of a default contract, and for whom the contractor’s responsibility has not been terminated in accordance with that term;

“vacancy” means a vacancy declared by a Board under regulation 8 of the 1997 Regulations(12).

(1)

S.I. 1972/1265 (N.I.14)

(2)

1983 c. 54.

(3)

S.I. 1991/194 (N.I. 1)

(4)

S.R. 1997 No. 380.

(5)

S.R. 2004 No. 140

(6)

S.R. 1998 No. 412

(7)

Article 57 was inserted by Article 4 of S.I. 2004/311 (N.I. 2)

(8)

Article 55 was replaced by section 42 of the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 and was repealed, in relation to Local Medical Committees, by paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the Order

(9)

Article 55B was inserted by paragraph 9 of Schedule 1 to the Order

(10)

Section 2 was amended by S.I. 1996/1591 and 2002/3135

(11)

Article 57G was inserted by Article 4 of the Order

(12)

Regulation 8 was amended by S.R. 1999 No. 100