These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992 (“the principal Regulations”), which regulate the selection of general practitioners (“GPs”) to fill practice vacancies.

Following the abolition of the Medical Practices Committee by section 14 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001, these Regulations provide for a new system for the identification of vacancies by Health Authorities and the imposition of conditions of practice on GPs filling those vacancies and makes consequential amendments to the principal Regulations.

Section 14 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 also transferred the function of issuing a certificate to GPs that a transaction does not involve the sale of goodwill to the Secretary of State and regulations 26 and 29 make consequential amendments to the principal Regulations.

Regulation 24 amends regulation 18L to provide new transitional provisions to reflect the changes made to Part III of the principal Regulations by these Regulations.

Regulation 31 makes further amendments to Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations (terms of service). Paragraph (2) of the regulation amends the date by which a doctor must submit an application to be on the medical supplementary list or medical list if he is not already on such a list and wishes to be engaged as a deputy or employed as an assistant after 1st April 2002. Paragraph (3) adds a new term of service for general medical services doctors that all such doctors must participate in Health Authority appraisal schemes.

Regulation 32 and the Schedule make minor amendments to the principal Regulations.