EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the National Health Service (General Medical Service Contracts) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/478, as amended) (“the GMS Contracts Regulations”), the National Health Service (General Medical Service Contracts) (Prescription of Drugs Etc) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1002, as amended) (“the GMS Prescription of Drugs Regulations”), the National Health Service (General Dental Services Contracts) (Wales) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/490, as amended) (“the GDS Regulations”), and the National Health Service (Personal Dental Services Agreements) (Wales) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/489, as amended) (“the PDS Regulations”).
Providers of services under the contracts or agreements in respect of which provision is made by the GMS Contract Regulations, the GDS Regulations and the PDS Regulations may choose to be a “health service body” and so for their contract to be an NHS contract. Providers who choose to be a health service body may also choose to cease to be such a body and for their contract to cease to be an NHS contract. Where a contractor chooses to cease to be a health service body, the amendments made by regulations 4, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 have the effect of providing that all disputes relating to the period when the contract was an NHS contract are to be dealt with under the NHS dispute resolution procedure. Transitional provision is made in regulation 18 which provides that if a dispute is already the subject of legal proceedings before these Regulations came into force, that dispute is to be determined in accordance with the relevant legislation as it applied at that time.
Regulation 5 inserts a new paragraph 15A into Schedule 6 to the GMS Contracts Regulations. This enables a contractor to accept a member of Her Majesty’s armed forces as a patient for a maximum period of two years if that person has been authorised in writing by Defence Medical Services to receive medical services under the contract at the contractor’s practice and the contractor is satisfied that the person is living or working within the contractor’s practice area.
Regulation 3 inserts a definition of “armed forces of the Crown” into regulation 2(1) of the GMS Contracts Regulations.
Regulations 6 and 7 make amendments to paragraph 25 and 67 of Schedule 6 to the GMS Contracts Regulations which are consequential to the amendments made by regulations 3 and 5.
Regulation 9 amends Schedule 2 to the GMS Prescription of Drugs Regulations. Regulation 9 makes amendments to the table in Schedule 2 which restricts the circumstances in which certain drugs or medicines may be ordered for specified categories of patients for specified purposes. The entry in the table relating to certain drugs which may only be ordered for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in restricted circumstances has been amended so as to remove Apomorphine Hydrochloride, Moxisylyte Hydrochloride, and Thymoxamine Hydrochloride and to include Avanafil. The entry in the table relating to the drug Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) for the treatment of flu is amended so as to remove the restriction on prescribing the drug to infants under 1 years of age. Regulation 9 also amends the definition of what is meant by “at-risk” in Schedule 2.
Regulations 11, 13, 15 and 17 amend Schedule 3 to the GDS Regulations and Schedule 3 to the PDS Regulations in relation to other contractual terms which a GDS contract and PDS agreement must contain. Regulations 11 and 15 insert new provision in respect of the use of certain telephone numbers which charge patients more than the equivalent cost of calling a geographical number. Regulations 13 and 17 make amendments in respect of the contractual terms in relation to the termination of a dental contract on the death of an individual practitioner. The effect of the amendments is to extend the period within which the estate of a contract holder has to confirm to the health board that they wish to continue to hold the contract after the death of the contract holder to 28 days. The time period the estate then has to arrange the continuation of services is also extended to six months.