# The National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992, Paragraph 19: Absences, deputies, assistants and partners


(1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, a doctor shall give treatment personally.
(2) Subject to sub-paragraphs (3), (5) and (6), a doctor (in this sub-paragraph referred to as “the patient’s doctor”) shall be under no obligation to give treatment personally to a patient provided that reasonable steps are taken to ensure the continuity of the patient’s treatment, and in those circumstances treatment may be given—
(a) by another doctor acting as a deputy, whether or not he is a partner or assistant of the patient’s doctor; or
(b) in the case of treatment which it is clinically reasonable in the circumstances to delegate to someone other than a doctor, by a person whom the doctor has authorised and who he is satisfied is competent to carry out such treatment.
(3) Subject to sub-paragraph (4), in the case of maternity medical services a doctor on the obstetric list shall not arrange for the provision of such services by another doctor unless that doctor is a doctor on the obstetric list or satisfies one or more of the criteria set out in Part 1 of Schedule 5.
(4) Sub-paragraph (3) shall not apply where there has been a summons to an obstetric emergency.
(5) In the case of child health surveillance services, a doctor who has, pursuant to regulation 28, undertaken to provide such services shall not arrange for the provision of such services by—
(a) another doctor unless that doctor is included in a child health surveillance list; or
(b) any other person without the consent of the FHSA.
(6) In the case of minor surgery services, a doctor who has, pursuant to regulation 33, undertaken to provide such services shall not arrange for the provision of such services by—
(a) another doctor unless that doctor is included in a minor surgery list; or
(b) any other person.
(7) In this paragraph “a summons to an obstetric emergency” means a summons to the doctor by a midwife or on behalf of the patient to attend when medical attention is required urgently by a woman or her baby during pregnancy, labour or the post-natal period, as defined in regulation 31(7).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/635/schedule/2/paragraph/19 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-general-medical-services-regulations-1992/schedule-2/paragraph-19
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.