[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Search] [Feedback]
	Northern Irish Legislation
You are here:  BAILII >> Databases >> Northern Irish Legislation >> HEALTH AND PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1972

[Index] [Table] [Search] [Notes] [Noteup] [Previous] [Download] [Help]

HEALTH AND PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1972 - SECT 56

56.(1) Every Health and Social Services Board shall, in accordance with
regulations, make arrangements in respect of its area with medical
practitioners for the provision by them of personal medical (including
maternity medical) services for all persons in the area who wish to take
advantage of the arrangements, and the services provided in accordance with
the arrangements are in this Order referred to as "general medical services".

(2) Subject to paragraph (5), regulations may make provision for defining the
general medical services to be provided and for securing that the arrangements
will be such that all persons availing themselves of those services will
receive adequate personal care and attendance, and the regulations shall
include provision

(a)for the preparation, publication and maintenance of lists of medical
practitioners who undertake to provide general medical services other than
maternity medical services;

(b)for the preparation, publication and maintenance of lists of medical
practitioners who undertake to provide maternity medical services and who
possess such qualifications, or have such experience in the practice of
obstetrics, as may be prescribed;

(c)for the establishment and constitution of a committee, to be known as the
Obstetric Committee, which shall have such functions in relation to the lists
mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) as may be prescribed;

(d)for conferring a right, subject to [paragraph (2A) and to] the provisions
of this Order relating to the disqualification of persons providing services,
on any medical practitioner resident in Northern Ireland who wishes to be
included in the lists mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) [and who has such medical
experience as may be prescribed under Article 8 of the Health and Personal
Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 unless he is exempted by
regulations under that Article from the need to have acquired that
experience], to be so included;

(e)for conferring a right on any person to choose, in accordance with the
prescribed procedure, the medical practitioner who is to provide him with
general medical services, subject to the consent of the practitioner so chosen
and to any prescribed limit on the number of patients to be accepted by any
practitioner;

(f)for the distribution among medical practitioners whose names are on the
lists mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of any persons who have indicated a wish
to obtain general medical services but who have not made any choice of medical
practitioner or have been refused by the practitioner chosen; and

(g)for the issue, to or on behalf of persons availing themselves of general
medical services or their personal representatives, by medical practitioners
providing those services of certificates reasonably required by them under or
for the purposes of any enactment specified in the regulations.

[(2A) No medical practitioner who is a national of a member State and is
registered by virtue of a qualification granted in a member State shall be
entitled to have his name included in the lists mentioned in paragraph (2)(a)
unless he satisfies the Health and Social Services Board in whose area his
surgery or main surgery is, or is to be, situated that he has that knowledge
of English which, in the interests of himself and his patients, is necessary
for the provision of general medical services in the Board's area.]

(3) Regulations under paragraph (2) may include provision for prescribing the
time within which medical practitioners providing maternity medical services
must submit their claims for remuneration to the Health and Social Services
Board in respect of the provision by them of those services, and for the
extension of that time where good cause is shown for delay.

[(3A) Regulations under paragraph (2) may, without prejudice to Article 12,
provide for general medical services to include the provision of, and services
connected with, any such advice, examination and treatment as are mentioned in
that Article.]

(4) Where any medical practitioner referred to in paragraph (2)(b) provides
any maternity medical services for a woman in a hospital vested in the
Ministry, he shall, for the purposes of paragraph (2) and of any regulations
thereunder, and for the purposes of this Order, be taken to have provided
those services under this Article.

(5) Before making any regulations under this Article, the Ministry shall
consult such organisations as appear to the Minister to be representative of
the medical profession.

© 1972 Crown Copyright

BAILII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback
URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/hapssio1972516/s1972.html