Article 1 Citation, commencement and interpretationI1

This Order may be cited as the General Medical Services Transitional and Consequential Provisions (No. 2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 and shall come into operation on 1st April 2004.

In this Order –

• “the 1972 Order” means the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972^f1;

• “the 1991 Order” means the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991^f2;

• “the 1997 Regulations” means the General Medical Services Regulations (Northern Ireland)1997^f3;

• “the 2003 Order” means the General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003^f4;

• “the 2004 Order” means the Primary Medical Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2004;

• “the 2004 Regulations” means the Health and Personal Social Services (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004^f5;

• “the Agency” means the Northern Ireland Central Services Agency for the Health and Social Services established under Article 26 of the 1972 Order;

• “the Choice Regulations” means the Health Services (Choice of Medical Practitioner) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998^f6;

• “additional services” has the same meaning as in the 2004 Regulations;

• “core hours” means the period beginning at 8am and ending at 6.30pm on any day from and including Monday to Friday except a public holiday or a local holiday agreed with the Board;

• “default contract” means a contract under Article 13 of the No. 1 Order and “default contractor” shall, except in Part 3, where it has the meaning given in Article 41(3), be construed accordingly;

• “the dispute resolution procedure” means the procedure for resolution of disputes specified in paragraphs 93 and 94 of Schedule 5 to the 2004 Regulations;

• “essential services” means the services described in regulation 15(3), (5), (6) and (8) of the 2004 Regulations;

• “general medical services contract” means a contract under Article 57 of the 1972 Order and general medical services contractor shall, except in Part 3, where it has the meaning given in Article 41(3), be construed accordingly.

• “list of patients” means –

  1. (a)

     in relation to a person providing general medical services under Article 56 of the 1972 Order^f7, the list of patients of a medical practitioner prepared by the Agency under regulation 18 of the 1997 Regulations; and

  2. (b)

     in relation to a general medical services contractor or a default contractor, the list prepared and maintained by the Board under the term of a general medical services contract which gives effect to paragraph 14 of Schedule 5 to the 2004 Regulations or under the equivalent term of a default contract;

• “Local Medical Committee” means –

  1. (a)

     until 1st April 2004, a committee recognised under Article 55 of the 1972 Order^f8;

  2. (b)

     from that date, a committee recognised under Article 55B of that Order^f9;

• “medical list” means a list prepared by a Board under regulation 4 (medical list) of the 1997 Regulations;

• “the No. 1 Order” means the General Medical Services Transitional and Consequential Provisions (No. 1) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004^f10;

• “out of hours period” has the same meaning as in regulation 2(1) of the 2004 Regulations;

• “practice premises”, in relation to a person providing general medical services under Article 56 of the 1972 Order has the same meaning as in regulation 2 of the 1997 Regulations and, in relation to a general medical services contractor or a default contractor, has the same meaning as in regulation 2(1) of the 2004 Regulations;

• “primary medical services performers list” means the list of primary medical services performers prepared pursuant to regulation 4(1) of the Health and Personal Social Services (Primary Medical Services Performers Lists) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004^f11;

• “registered patient” means –

  1. (a)

     a person who is recorded by the Board as being on the list of patients of a default contractor or a general medical services contractor, or

  2. (b)

     a person whom a default contractor or a general medical services contractor has accepted for inclusion on his list of patients, whether or not notification of that acceptance has been received by the Board and who has not been notified by the Board as having ceased to be on that list;

• “temporary resident” means a person accepted by a general medical services contractor or a default contractor as a temporary resident under the term of his contract which gives effect to paragraph 16 of Schedule 5 to the 2004 Regulations (or under the equivalent term of his default contract) and for whom the contractor’s responsibility has not been terminated in accordance with the terms of the general medical services contract or default contract.