The National Health Service (Choice of Medical Practitioner) (Scotland) Regulations 1998

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations replace provisions of the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 (“the GMS Regulations”) relating to the right (which is now enshrined in section 17F of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (“the 1978 Act”)) of any person to choose the doctor from whom he is to receive primary medical services. Unlike the GMS Regulations, these Regulations make provision in relation to both doctors who provide general medical services under Part II of the 1978 Act, and doctors who perform personal medical services in connection with a pilot scheme under section 1(1) of the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997.

The Regulations specify the procedures for applying to be included in a doctor’s list of patients (regulation 2) and for changing doctor (regulation 3). They also make provision for temporary residents, who are not included in the list of a doctor in the vicinity of the place where they are presently residing, to choose the doctor by whom they are to be treated (regulation 7). They confirm that a person who has chosen a particular doctor will, in certain circumstances, continue to be included in the list of that doctor if the doctor transfers from the provision of general medical services to the performance of personal medical services or vice versa (regulation 8).

The Regulations make provision for assignment to a doctor of persons who have not chosen a doctor, or who have not been accepted for inclusion in the list of the doctor of their choice. A Health Board is required ether to assign such a person to a doctor who provides general medical services in its area, or to require a person who provides piloted services (“a pilot scheme provider”) to make an assignment to a doctor who performs personal medical services under the pilot scheme in question. The Regulations set out the matters to which the Health Board or, as the case may be, the pilot scheme provider must have regard in making or requiring an assignment, and specifies circumstances in which an assignment may not be made to a particular doctor (regulations 4 and 5). They also provide for a doctor providing general medical services and a pilot scheme provider, to make representations to the Health Board about an assignment or, as the case may be, a requirement to assign a person to a doctor performing personal medical services (regulation 6).