National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978

[F1 [F2 75BB Prior authorisation for the purposes of section 75BA S

(1) A person may apply to a Health Board under this section for prior authorisation for the purposes of section 75BA in relation to the provision of services (“the requested services”) to a person ordinarily resident in Scotland (“the patient”).

(2) The requested services must be—

(a) services which fall within section 75BA(6) and meet the requirements in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 75BA(4), or

(b) services that are neither the same as nor equivalent to services that a Health Board in whose area the patient resides would make available to the patient under this Act in the circumstances of the patient’s case.

(3) The Scottish Ministers may determine—

(a) the form in which an application under this section must be made, and

(b) the information to be provided in support of the application.

(4) A Health Board—

(a) must authorise the provision of the requested services if they are services mentioned in subsection (2)(a) (but see subsection (5)), and

(b) may authorise the provision of the requested services in any case where—

(i) the requested services are necessary to treat or diagnose a medical condition of the patient, and

(ii) the duty in paragraph (a) does not apply.

(5) The duty in subsection (4)(a) does not apply if at least one of the following conditions is met—

(a) by receiving the requested services the patient would, according to a clinical evaluation, be exposed with reasonable certainty to a patient-safety risk that cannot be regarded as acceptable, taking into account the potential benefit for the patient of the requested service,

(b) the general public will be exposed with reasonable certainty to a substantial safety hazard as a result of the requested service,

(c) the requested service is to be provided by a healthcare provider that raises serious and specific concerns relating to the respect of standards and guidelines on quality of care and patient safety, including provisions on supervision, whether these standards and guidelines are laid down by laws or regulations or through accreditation systems established by the state in which the requested services will be provided,

(d) the Health Board can provide to the patient services that are the same as or equivalent to the requested services within a period of time that is medically justifiable, taking into account the patient’s state of health at the time the decision under this section is made and the probable course of the medical condition to which the requested services relate.

(6) The matters to which a Health Board is to have regard in determining for the purpose of subsection (5)(d) whether the length of any delay is medically justifiable include—

(a) the patient’s medical history,

(b) the extent of any pain, disability, discomfort or other suffering that is attributable to the medical condition to which the requested services are to relate,

(c) whether any such pain, disability, discomfort or suffering makes it impossible or extremely difficult for the patient to carry out ordinary daily tasks, and

(d) the extent to which the provision of the requested services would be likely to alleviate, or enable the alleviation of, the pain, disability, discomfort or suffering.

(7) In section 75D (deduction of NHS charges)—

(a) in subsection (1) after “75B(1)” insert “or 75BA”;

(b) in subsection (2) after “75C” insert “or 75BA and 75BB”.

(8) Any authorisation or refusal of authorisation in part or full under this section must be in writing.

(9) In this section F3 ... “writing” includes an electronic communication as defined in section 15 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000which has been recorded and is capable of being reproduced.]]

Textual Amendments

F1 Ss. 75B-75D inserted (7.7.2010) by The National Health Service (Reimbursement of the Cost of EEA Treatment) (Scotland) Regulations 2010 (S.S.I. 2010/283), reg. 3(3)

F2 S. 75BA - 75BB inserted (25.10.2013) by The National Health Service (Cross-Border Health Care) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (S.S.I. 2013/292), regs. 1(1), 8(4)

F3 Words in s. 75BB(9) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Cross-border Health Care (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2019 (S.S.I. 2019/131), regs. 2, 4(5) (with reg. 3) (as amended by S.S.I. 2020/478, regs. 1, 3); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)