Termination of responsibility for patients not registered with the contractor
25.—(1) Where a contractor—
(a)has received an application for the provision of medical services other than essential services—
(i)from a person who is not included in its list of patients; or
(ii)from a person whom the contractor has not accepted as a temporary resident; or
(iii)on behalf of a person mentioned in (i) or (ii) above, from one of the persons specified in paragraph 12(4); and
(b)has accepted that person as a patient for the provision of the service in question,
its responsibility for that patient will be terminated in one of the circumstances referred to in sub‑paragraph (2).
(2) The circumstances referred to in sub‑paragraph (1) are—
(a)the patient informs the contractor that the patient no longer wishes it to be responsible for provision of the service in question;
(b)in cases where the contractor has reasonable grounds for terminating its responsibility which do not relate to the person’s race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition, the contractor informs the patient that it no longer wishes to be responsible for providing the patient with the service in question; or
(c)it comes to the notice of the contractor that the patient—
(i)no longer resides in the area for which the contractor has agreed to provide the service in question; or
(ii)is no longer included in the list of patients of another contractor to whose registered patients the contractor has agreed to provide that service.
(3) A contractor which wishes to terminate its responsibility for a patient under sub‑paragraph (2)(b) must notify the patient of the termination and the reason for it.
(4) The contractor must keep a written record of terminations under this paragraph and of the reasons for them and must make this record available to the Health Board on request.
(5) A termination under sub‑paragraph (2)(b) will take effect—
(a)from the date on which the notice is given where the grounds for termination are those specified in paragraph 18(1); or
(b)in all other cases, 14 days from the date on which the notice is given.