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The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015

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The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015, Section 71 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 13 September 2024. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations. Help about Changes to Legislation

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Patient online services [F1: appointments and prescriptions] E+W

This section has no associated Explanatory Memorandum

71.—(1) A contractor must promote and offer to its registered patients the facility for a patient to—

(a)book, view, amend, cancel and print appointments online;

(b)order repeat prescriptions for drugs, medicines or appliances online; and

(c)view and print a list of any drugs, medicines or appliances in respect of which the patient has a repeat prescription,

in a manner which is capable of being electronically integrated with the computerised clinical systems of the contractor's practice using appropriate systems authorised by [F2NHS England] .

(2) The requirements in paragraph (1) do not apply where the contractor does not have access to computer systems and software which would enable it to offer the online services described in that paragraph to its registered patients.

[F3(3) A contractor must when complying with the requirements in paragraph (1)(a)—

(a)ensure that [F4all of its directly bookable appointments] are made available for online booking, whether or not those appointments are booked online, by telephone or in person, to include all appointments which must be made available for direct booking by NHS 111 in accordance with paragraph 11B of Part 1 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations; and

(b)consider whether it is necessary, in order to meet the needs of its registered patients, to increase the proportion of appointments which are available for its registered patients to book online and, if so, increase that number.

(3A) In the case of appointments required to be made available for direct booking by NHS 111, in accordance with paragraph 11B of Part 1 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations, those appointments can be released to be booked by a contractor’s registered patients by any means in the two hour period within core hours prior to the appointment time, or such other period agreed pursuant to a local arrangement, if they have not been booked by NHS 111 prior to this time.]

F5(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F6(5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F7(5A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F8(6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F9(7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(8) F10... The contractor must also promote and offer to its registered patients the facility referred to in paragraph (1)(a) and (b) on [F11the home page (or equivalent) of] [F12its practice website or online practice profile].

[F13(9) In this regulation—

(a)“local arrangement” means an arrangement between the contractor and [F2NHS England] as to the timeframe within which appointments not booked by NHS 111 can be released for booking by the contractor’s registered patients; and]

F14(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

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