PART 4HEALTH SERVICE BODY STATUS
Health service body status9
1
Where a proposed contractor elects in a written notice served on the Primary Care Trust at any time prior to the contract being entered into to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act, it shall be so regarded from the date on which the contract is entered into.
2
If, in accordance with paragraph (1) or (5), a contractor is to be regarded as a health service body, that fact shall not affect the nature of, or any rights or liabilities arising under, any other contract with a health service body entered into by that contractor before the date on which the contractor is to be so regarded.
3
Where a contract is made with an individual dental practitioner or two or more persons practising in partnership, and that individual or that partnership is to be regarded as a health service body in accordance with paragraph (1) or (5), the contractor shall, subject to paragraph (4), continue to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act for as long as that contract continues and irrespective of any change in—
a
the partners comprising the partnership;
b
the status of the contractor from that of an individual dental practitioner to that of a partnership; or
c
the status of the contractor from that of a partnership to that of an individual dental practitioner.
4
A contractor may at any time request a variation of the contract to include or remove provision from the contract that the contract is an NHS contract, and if it does so—
a
the Primary Care Trust shall agree to the variation; and
b
the procedure in paragraph 60(1) of Schedule 3 shall apply (variation of a contract: general).
5
Where, pursuant to paragraph (4), the Primary Care Trust agrees to a variation of the contract, the contractor shall—
a
be regarded; or
b
subject to paragraph (7), cease to be regarded,
as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act from the date that variation takes effect pursuant to paragraph 60(1) of Schedule 3.
6
Subject to paragraph (7), a contractor shall cease to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act if the contract is terminated.
7
Where a contractor ceases to be a health service body pursuant to—
a
paragraph (5) or (6), it shall continue to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of being a party to any other NHS contract entered into after it became a health service body but before the date on which the contractor ceased to be a health service body (for which purposes it ceases to be such a body on the termination of that NHS contract);
b
paragraph (5), it shall, if it or the Primary Care Trust has referred any matter to the NHS dispute resolution procedure before it ceases to be a health service body, be bound by the determination of the adjudicator as if the dispute had been referred pursuant to paragraph 54 of Schedule 3 (dispute resolution: non-NHS contracts); or
c
paragraph (6), it shall continue to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of the NHS dispute resolution procedure where that procedure has been commenced—
i
before the termination of the contract; or
ii
after the termination of the contract, whether in connection with or arising out of the termination of the contract or otherwise,
for which purposes it ceases to be such a body on the conclusion of that procedure.