# The National Health Service (Fund-holding Practices) Amendment Regulations 1995, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Fund-holding Practices) Regulations 1993 (“the principal Regulations”), which regulate the recognition and operation of fund-holding practices.
The principal change effected by these Regulations is the creation of two levels of fund-holding practice. GP practices with at least 3,000 patients on their lists will be able to apply for recognition as a community fund-holding practice. Practices with at least 5,000 patients on their lists will be able to apply for recognition as a standard fund-holding practice. Existing fund-holders will automatically become standard fund-holding practices.
Regulation 2 inserts two new definitions into the principal Regulations to take account of the two new types of fund-holding practice.
Regulation 3 amends regulation 2 of the principal Regulations to make special provision for Wales. The minimum list size criterion for community fund-holding practices is disapplied in Wales, and the list size criterion for standard fund-holding practices in Wales is 4,000 patients instead of 5,000.
Regulations 4 to 8 amend the provisions in the principal Regulations relating to applications for recognition of fund-holding practices, the granting of recognition, the conditions for continuing recognition and associated matters.
Regulation 9 provides for one type of fund-holding practice to apply to become a fund-holding practice of the other type.
Regulation 11 amends the principal Regulations to make provision for different lists of goods and services which may be purchased for patients by community and standard fund-holding practices. Provision is also made for a fund-holding practice to decline to purchase services in connection with the termination of pregnancy. If a practice does this, responsibility for such services will revert to the relevant District Health Authority.
Regulation 12 provides for the payment to fund-holding practices of a management allowance to be spent on certain management expenses.
Regulation 13 extends the purposes for which members of a fund-holding practice may make payments to themselves out of their allotted sum.
Regulation 14 amends regulation 24 of the principal Regulations to extend the purposes on which fund-holding practices may spend savings and introduces a requirement that the Regional Health Authority consent to such expenditure.
Regulations 16 and 17 amend the Schedules to the principal Regulations to provide for the different list sizes for different types of fund-holding practice, and to remove the requirement that a fund-holding practice may not include two members who practise in partnerships whose list size exceeds 7,000. The change to the list size requirements takes effect from 1st April 1996. Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations is also amended to require the members of a fund-holding practice to send Family Health Services Authorities information about proposed and past expenditure of their allotted sums.
The Regulations make other drafting and consequential amendments.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1995/693/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-fund-holding-practices-amendment-regulations-1995/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.