The Primary Care Trusts (Consultation on Establishment, Dissolution and Transfer of Staff) Regulations 1999

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Primary Care Trusts (Consultation on Establishment, Dissolution and Transfer of Staff) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 8th September 1999.

(2) In these Regulations–

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

“the 1990 Act” means the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990;

“the 1997 Act” means the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997(1);

“community health services” means any services which the Secretary of State may provide under section 3(1)(d) or (e) of, or Schedule 1 to, the Act and any service which he has a duty to provide under section 5(1) or (1A) of that Act(2);

“health care professional” means–

(a)

a medical or dental practitioner;

(b)

a registered nurse, midwife or health visitor;

(c)

a registered pharmacist;

(d)

an ophthalmic optician, other than a body corporate, enrolled in the list kept under section 9 of the Opticians Act 1989(3);

(e)

a person who is registered as a member of a profession to which the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act 1960(4) extends;

(f)

a registered osteopath as defined by section 41 of the Osteopaths Act 1993(5); or

(g)

a registered chiropractor as defined by section 43 of the Chiropractors Act 1994(6);

“Part II services” means general medical services, general dental services, general ophthalmic services or pharmaceutical services under the Act;

“practice patient” means–

(a)

in relation to a medical practitioner who practises otherwise than in partnership, an individual who is on that practitioner’s list of patients (or, if that practitioner and one or more other medical practitioners together have a single list of patients in connection with a pilot scheme under the 1997 Act(7), an individual who is on that single list);

(b)

in relation to a medical practitioner who is one of two or more practitioners who practise in partnership with each other, an individual who is on the list of patients of any of those practitioners (or, if any of those practitioners together have a single list of patients in connection with a pilot scheme under the 1997 Act, an individual who is on that single list);

“Primary Care Group” means a committee appointed under regulation 14(1) of the Health Authorities (Membership and Procedure) Regulations 1996(8) in accordance with the Secretary of State’s directions of 15th October 1998 and exercising functions in accordance with the Secretary of State’s directions of 25th March 1999(9);

“private carer” means, in relation to the provision of care, a person who is not employed to provide the care in question by any body in the exercise of its functions under any enactment;

“relevant Health Authority” means, in relation to a medical practitioner, a Health Authority which is construed as the relevant Health Authority in accordance with section 15(1B) and (1BA) of the Act(10);

“relevant Primary Care Trust” means, in relation to a medical practitioner, the Primary Care Trust–

(a)

which is in the area of the Health Authority which is the practitioner’s relevant Health Authority, and

(b)

in whose area live the largest number of the practice patients who are resident in the area of that authority;

“staff representatives” means–

(a)

in the case of an order under paragraph 20(1) of Schedule 5A of the Act (transfer of property etc. on dissolution of a Primary Care Trust)(11), such persons as the Primary Care Trust which is to be dissolved may recognise as representing persons who are employed by that Trust and who are, in its opinion, likely to be affected by the order;

(b)

in the case of an order under paragraph 23(1) of Schedule 5A of the Act (transfer of staff to a Primary Care Trust), such persons as the Health Authority, NHS trust, or Primary Care Trust from which employees are to be transferred may recognise as representing those employees who are, in their opinion, likely to be affected by the order.

(3) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a numbered regulation is a reference to the regulation bearing that number in these Regulations, and any reference in a regulation to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph bearing that number in the regulation.

(1)

1997 c. 46.

(2)

Section 5(1) was amended by the Health and Medicines Act 1988 (c. 49) (“the 1988 Act”), section 25 and Schedule 3; section 5(1A) and (1B) was inserted by the 1988 Act, section 10(1); Schedule 1 was amended by the 1988 Act, Schedule 2, paragraph 7, and the Education Act 1996 (c. 56), Schedule 37, paragraph 46.

(3)

1989 c. 44.

(4)

1960 c. 66.

(5)

1993 c. 21.

(6)

1994 c. 17.

(7)

See section 1 of the National Health Service (Primary Care Act) 1997 (c. 46) for the definition of “pilot scheme”.

(8)

S.I. 1996/707 as amended by S.I. 1997/2991, 1998/648 and 1998/2621.

(9)

A copy of the directions may be obtained by writing to the Department of Health, PC-GMS, Room 7E60, Quarry House, Leeds LS2 7UE.

(10)

Section 15(1B) and (1BA) were inserted by the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997 (c. 46), Schedule 2, paragraph 4(3).

(11)

Schedule 5A is inserted by the 1999 Act, Schedule 1.