Patient preference of a practitioner
21.—(1) Where the contractor has accepted an application made under paragraph 17 of 19, the contractor must—
(a)give notice in writing to the person (or, in the case of a child or an adult who lacks capacity, to the person who made the application on the applicant’s behalf) of that person’s right to express a preference to receive services from a particular performer or class of performer either generally or in relation to any particular condition; and
(b)record in writing any such preference expressed by or on behalf of that person.
(2) The contractor must endeavour to comply with any reasonable preference expressed under sub-paragraph (1) but need not do so if the preferred performer—
(a)has reasonable grounds for refusing to provide services to the person who expressed the preference; or
(b)does not routinely perform the service in question within the contractor’s practice.