The Health Services (Choice of Medical Practitioner) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Procedure for choosing a doctor

2.—(1) Any person who wishes to receive primary medical services may choose the doctor from whom he is to receive those services (being a doctor who provides general medical services or who is primarily responsible for the performance of personal medical services under a pilot scheme(1)), subject to–

(a) the consent of that doctor; and

(b) any limit on the maximum number of persons whose names may be included in the doctor’s list of that doctor, imposed by regulation 23 of the GMS Regulations or, as the case may be, directions given under Article 15E(3) of the 1972 Order(2).

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), an application for inclusion of a person’s name in a doctor’s list shall be made by delivering to the doctor a medical card or an application signed (in either case) by the applicant or a person authorised by the applicant to sign on his behalf.

(3) An application may be made (otherwise than by the doctor concerned)–

(a) on behalf of any child, by either parent or, in the absence of both parents, the guardian or other adult person who has the care of the child; or

(b) on behalf of any person under 18 years of age who is–

(i) in the care of an authority in whose care he has been placed under the provisions of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(3), by a person duly authorised by that authority; or

(ii) in the care of a voluntary organisation, by that voluntary organisation or a person duly authorised by it; or

(iii) in a training school, by the manager of that training school; or

(c) on behalf of any person who is incapable of making such an application, or authorising such an application to be made on his behalf, by a relative or other adult person who has the care of such person.

(1)

As to such doctors (and the requirement that they must have a doctor’s list) see the directions to Health and Social Services Boards concerning the implementation of pilot schemes (personal medical services), given by the Department of Health and Social Services on 19th November 1998

(2)

No such directions had been given at the time these Regulations were made

(3)

S.I. 1995/755 (N.I. 2)