The National Health Service (Vocational Training for General Medical Practice) Regulations 1997

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the National Health Service Act 1977;

“certificate of prescribed experience” means a certificate issued under regulation 10 and, for the purposes of regulation 4, includes a certificate of prescribed experience issued under the National Health Service (Vocational Training) Regulations 1979(1);

“certificate of equivalent experience” means a certificate issued under regulation 12 and, for the purposes of regulation 4, includes a certificate of equivalent experience issued under the National Health Service (Vocational Training) Regulations 1979;

“General Practice (GP) Registrar”—

(a)

has the meaning assigned to it in regulations made under section 29 of the Act(2);

(b)

in relation to Scotland and Northern Ireland, means a “trainee general practitioner”, as defined in regulations made, respectively, under section 19 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978(3) and article 56 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972(4); and

(c)

includes a practitioner who is being trained in general practice under an arrangement approved by the Armed Services General Practice Approval Board;

“the Joint Committee” means the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice;

“Medical Directive” means Council Directive 93/16/EEC of 5 April 1993 to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications(5), as amended by Council Directive 97/50/EC of 6 October 1997(6);

“medical list” means—

(a)

a list maintained under regulation 4 of the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992(7); or

(b)

any corresponding list drawn up by an Executive Council pursuant to the provisions of Part IV of the National Health Service Act 1946(8); or maintained under regulation 4 of the National Health Service (General Medical and Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1974(9).

“practitioner” means a fully registered medical practitioner except for the purposes of regulation 6(4), where it also includes a medical practitioner with limited registration under section 22 of the Medical Act 1983(10);

“satisfactory completion”, in relation to a period of training in any employment, has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 9(1); and

“summative assessment” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 9(2).

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, a practitioner shall be regarded as having his name included in a medical list if—

(a) his name is (or, if the context so requires, was) included in a medical list mentioned in paragraph (1); or

(b) he has been issued by the person in charge of the provision of medical services in one of the Armed Services of the Crown with a statement that he has been providing services in the Armed Services equivalent to general medical services;

but he shall not be so regarded if his name is (or was) included in a list for the provision of general medical services limited to those mentioned in regulation 5(1)(d).

(1)

S.I. 1979/1644, amended by S.I. 1980/1900, 1981/1790, 1984/215, 1985/1353, 1986/1642, 1991/406 and 1994/3130.

(2)

See S.I. 1992/635, regulation 2(1), amended by S.I. 1997/2468, regulation 3.

(3)

1978 c. 29. Section 19 was amended by the Health Services Act 1980 (c. 53), section 7, by the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983 (c. 41), Schedule 7, paragraph 2, by the Medical Act 1983 (c. 54), Schedule 5, paragraph 17(a) and by the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c. 19), section 37; and is to be read with the Health and Medicines Act 1988 (c. 49), section 17.

(4)

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

(5)

OJ No. L 165, 7.7.1993, p.1.

(6)

OJ No. L 921, 24.10.1997, p.35.

(7)

S.I. 1992/635; the relevant amending instrument is S.I. 1996/702.

(8)

1946 c. 81.

(9)

S.I. 1974/160 (which was revoked by S.I. 1992/662, regulation 26 and Schedule 4). Relevant amendments to the 1974 Regulations were made by the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, section 2 and S.I.s 1975/719, regulation 3(3), 1982/288, article 8, and 1985/39, article 12.

(10)

1983 c. 54. Section 22 was amended by S.I. 1996/1591, regulation 6(5) and (6).