National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997

13 Preferential treatment on transferring to medical lists

(1) Before the Secretary of State approves a pilot scheme, he must determine whether a participating medical practitioner is to be given preferential treatment under Schedule 1 if he makes an application for his name to be included in the authority’s medical list after ceasing to perform personal medical services under the scheme.

(2) Before a pilot scheme is varied so as to permit a new medical practitioner to perform personal medical services under the scheme, the Secretary of State must make a determination under this section in relation to the new practitioner.

(3) The Secretary of State may at any time make a determination under this section varying a determination about a medical practitioner if he is asked to do so by the practitioner concerned.

(4) Before making any determination under this section, the Secretary of State must publish the criteria by reference to which he will make it.

(5) Those criteria may be—

(a) criteria applying generally to all determinations;

(b) criteria applying only to the pilot scheme in question; or

(c) a mixture of both.

(6) The Secretary of State must notify the authority and the medical practitioner or practitioners concerned in writing of any determination made by him under this section.

(7) Different determinations may be made with respect to different medical practitioners performing personal medical services under the same pilot scheme.

(8) A determination may identify the medical practitioner or practitioners to which it applies by name or in any other way.

(9) Schedule 1 has effect in relation to preferential treatment for medical practitioners who wish to transfer to medical lists.