# The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015, Paragraph 21: Refusal of applications for inclusion in list of patients or for acceptance as temporary resident


(1) The contractor may only refuse an application made under paragraph 18 or 20 if the contractor has reasonable grounds for doing so which do not relate to the applicant's age, appearance, disability or medical condition, gender or gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or social class.
(2) The reasonable grounds referred to in sub-paragraph (1) may, in the case of an application made under paragraph 18, include the ground that the applicant—
(a) does not live in the contractor's practice area; or
(b) lives in the outer boundary area (the area referred to in regulation 20(3)).
(3) Where a contractor refuses an application made under paragraph 18 or 20, the contractor must give notice in writing of that refusal and the reasons for it to the applicant (or, in the case of a child or an adult who lacks capacity, to the person who made the application on their behalf) before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the date of its decision to refuse.
(4) The contractor must—
(a) keep a written record of—
(i) the refusal of any application made under paragraph 18, and
(ii) the reasons for that refusal; and
(b) make such records available to NHS England on request.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1862/schedule/3/paragraph/21 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-general-medical-services-contracts-regulations-2015/schedule-3/paragraph-21
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.