The National Health Service (Fund-holding Practices) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Fund-holding Practices) Regulations 1996 (“the principal Regulations”), which provide for the recognition and operation of fund-holding practices.

Regulation 2 amends regulation 5 of the principal Regulations (grant of recognition as a fund-holding practice) so that recognition of standard and community fund-holding practices is to take effect biennially, rather than (as previously) annually. Regulation 7 makes a provision consequential on this change relating to applications outstanding on 31st July 1997.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 18 of the principal Regulations (determination of allotted sum) to provide for variations of proposed allotted sums for fund-holding practices, and regulation 6 makes a consequential amendment.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 20 of the principal Regulations (purchase of goods and services), so that it is the function of a fund-holding practice to purchase care resulting from a referral of one of its patients by a doctor who is not a member of that practice.

Regulation 5 amends regulation 25 of the principal Regulations (savings from the allotted sum) to specify an additional condition for Health Authority consent for the use of savings on matters such as premises refurbishments: the Health Authority must be satisfied that, if such expenditure were incurred, the members of the fund-holding practice would retain sufficient savings to meet any predictable overspend in the current and (in some cases) previous financial years.