5.—(1) This Part applies to a GOS contract which was entered into before the appointed day and the parties to the contract on or after the appointed day are the Contractor and the Board as a consequence of a property transfer scheme made under section 300 of the 2012 Act.
(2) In this Part—
“Contractor” means a party to a GOS contract other than—
in relation to a period before the appointed day, a Primary Care Trust; or
in relation to a period on or after the appointed day, the Board;
“GOS contract” means a contract entered into in accordance with section 117 of the 2006 Act;
“Primary Care Trust” means a Primary Care Trust which was established and which subsisted immediately before the coming into force of section 34 (abolition of Primary Care Trusts) of the 2012 Act; and
“Strategic Health Authority” means a Strategic Health Authority which was established and which subsisted immediately before the coming into force of section 33 (abolition of Strategic Health Authorities) of the 2012 Act.
6.—(1) The Contractor and the Board must, as soon as is reasonably practicable on or after the appointed day, enter into discussions with each other with a view to agreeing variations to the GOS contract in order to ensure that the GOS contract complies with the GOS Regulations on or after the appointed day.
(2) Where the terms of a GOS contract have not been varied so as to include the terms which have the same effect as those terms specified in these Regulations, the GOS contract is deemed to have been so varied only to the extent that the terms are to have the same effect as those terms specified in these Regulations that have effect on or after the appointed day.
(3) The Contractor and the Board may not agree any variation to the GOS contract that is contrary to the GOS Regulations on or after the appointed day.
7. A form supplied by a Primary Care Trust continues to be a valid form in relation to the Board until it is cancelled or withdrawn by the Board.
8. Where a Primary Care Trust has given notification to a person under regulation 5 (reasons) of the GOS Regulations before the appointed day, the notification and the written views contained in that notification shall be treated, on or after that day, as notification by the Board and the written views of the Board.
9.—(1) A person who has been served notice pursuant to regulation 5 of the GOS Regulations before the appointed day may, on or after that day, appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against the decision of the Primary Care Trust and that appeal must be treated as an appeal against a decision of the Board.
(2) Where a Primary Care Trust has given notice to a person pursuant to regulation 5 of the GOS Regulations, the Board, if it considers that the person should be disqualified from entering into a contract may on or after the appointed day, apply for a contract disqualification order in relation to that person, pursuant to regulation 6(2) of the GOS Regulations.
10. Any right that a Primary Care Trust had to set off an amount against any amount payable to the Contractor under the term that gives effect to regulation 15 (finance) of the GOS Regulations immediately before the appointed day, must be treated as a right of the Board under the term that gives effect to that regulation on or after the appointed day.
11. Where a Contractor provided mandatory services or additional services before the appointed day but made no claim to a Primary Care Trust in respect of fees for such services, a claim may be made to the Board on or after that day, provided it is made within the period allowed by regulation 16(5) of the GOS Regulations.
12. Where a Primary Care Trust has made a request for information, or access to information, under the terms of a GOS contract having the same effect as paragraph 14 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations, the request is to be deemed as made by the Board.
13. Where under Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations, or under paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 to the GOS Regulations, notice has been given by the Contractor to the Primary Care Trust, or notice has been given by the Primary Care Trust to the Contractor, that notice is to be deemed as given by the Contractor to the Board, or given by the Board to the Contractor, as the case may be.
14. Where a Primary Care Trust has authorised a person in writing for the purposes of—
(a)paragraph 14 (provision of and access to information) of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations;
(b)paragraph 19 (entry and inspection) of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations; or
(c)paragraph 5 (facilities and equipment) of Schedule 2 to the GOS Regulations,
that authorisation is to be deemed as given by the Board.
15.—(1) This regulation applies where a Contractor has compiled a patient information leaflet which complies with the requirements of paragraph 3 (provision of information) of Schedule 2 to the GOS Regulations immediately before the appointed day.
(2) Notwithstanding the requirements in paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the GOS Regulations as in force on or after the appointed day, the Contractor must review its patient information leaflet and make any amendments necessary so as to include the information specified in Schedule 4 (patient information leaflet) to the GOS Regulations not later than 1st July 2013.
16.—(1) This regulation applies where an investigation of a complaint under the procedure referred to in Part 4A or Part 5 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations is not completed before the appointed day.
(2) Where a complaint of the kind referred to in paragraph (1) fell to be dealt with under Part 4A, the Contractor must continue to deal with the complaint in accordance with the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009(1) as if any reference to a Primary Care Trust in a document or form relating to the complaint were a reference to the Board.
(3) Where a complaint of the kind referred to in paragraph (1) fell to be dealt with under Part 5, the Contractor must deal with the complaint, as far as it is able, in accordance with the complaints procedure which the Contractor operated under that Part and may, if it is unable to comply with that procedure as a consequence of the length of time it has taken to deal with the complaint, vary the procedure only to the extent that is necessary in order to dispose of the matter in a just manner.
17. The Contractor must continue to co-operate with an investigation of a complaint which is ongoing immediately before the appointed day in accordance with terms of the GOS contract that give effect to paragraph 26 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations as in force on or after the appointed day as if any act or omission by, or reference to, a Primary Care Trust or Strategic Health Authority were an act or omission by, or reference to, the Board.
18.—(1) Any dispute arising out of or in connection with a GOS contract in respect of a Contractor and a Primary Care Trust that is ongoing immediately before the appointed day is deemed to be a dispute in respect of that Contractor and the Board.
(2) The terms of the GOS contract which have the same effect as the provisions in Part 6 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations as in force immediately before the appointed day continue to apply to the dispute as if the references to—
(a)“Primary Care Trust” were to the Board, and
(b)“the parties” mean the Contractor and the Board.
19.—(1) This regulation applies where a Primary Care Trust or a Contractor has taken any steps in accordance with or in connection with a matter referred to in any of the provisions in Part 7 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations before the appointed day and, had it not been for the coming into force of section 34 (abolition of Primary Care Trusts) of the 2012 Act, that matter would continue to fall to the Primary Care Trust to be dealt with in accordance with Part 7.
(2) Any action taken or omission by a Primary Care Trust in accordance with or in connection with any of the provisions in Part 7 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations is to be deemed to be action taken or omitted by the Board for the purposes of the continuity of the application of those provisions that have effect on or after the appointed day.
(3) Where an agreement has been reached between a Contractor and a Primary Care Trust in accordance with or in connection with the provisions in Part 7 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations before the appointed day, that agreement is to be deemed as an agreement made by that Contractor and the Board.
(4) Where, under Part 7 of Schedule 1 to the GOS Regulations, notice has been given by the Contractor to the Primary Care Trust or notice has been given by the Primary Care Trust to the Contractor, that notice is to be deemed to have been given by the Contractor to the Board, or as the case may be, notice given by the Board to the Contractor.
(5) Notwithstanding anything in this regulation, the Board may, if it thinks it necessary or desirable in order to dispose of a matter justly, review a decision or action taken that it is deemed to have made or taken as a consequence of this regulation.
20.—(1) Subject to the preceding regulations in this Part, any act or omission by, or in relation to, a Primary Care Trust before the appointed day in respect of—
(a)the exercise of any functions of the Primary Care Trust under Part 6 of the 2006 Act; or
(b)any rights or liabilities of the Primary Care Trust transferred as a consequence of a property transfer scheme made under section 300 of the 2012 Act,
in relation to a GOS contract, is deemed to have been an act or omission of, or in relation to, the Board.
(2) Anything which, when these Regulations take effect, is in the process of being done by, or in relation to, a Primary Care Trust in respect of, or in connection with—
(a)the exercise by the Primary Care Trust of any of its functions under Part 6 of the 2006 Act; or
(b)any rights or liabilities of the Primary Care Trust transferred as a consequence of a property transfer scheme made under section 300 of the 2012 Act,
is deemed to have effect as if done by, or in relation to, and may be continued by, or in relation to, the Board.
(3) Where it is necessary for the Contractor or the Board—
(a)to take account of a period of time; or
(b)to calculate a period of time which is required in accordance with the GOS Regulations as in force on or after the appointed day,
any period of time that occurred before the appointed day and which is relevant to the matter under consideration is to be taken into account or used in order to calculate any time period for the purposes of that consideration or applying provisions in those Regulations on or after the appointed day only if that period of time could have been taken into account or used in a calculation of a time period in respect of those mirror provisions as in force immediately before the appointed day.
S.I. 2009/309; amending instruments are S.I. 2009/1768, regulation 104 of, and paragraph 11 of Schedule 8 to S.I. 2012/1909, and S.I. 2013/235.