The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts and Personal Medical Services Agreements) (Amendment) Regulations 2017

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1862) (“the GMS Contracts Regulations”) and the National Health Service (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1879) (“the PMS Agreements Regulations”) which make provision in respect of the services provided under a general medical services contract and a personal medical services agreement made pursuant to Part 4 of the National Health Service Act 2006 (primary medical services). They apply to England only.

Part 2 of the Regulations amends the GMS Contracts Regulations.

Regulation 2 inserts new regulations 74B to 74F which make provision for recording or allowing the extraction of specified data by GP practices. New regulation 74B requires GP practices to record and upload information required for the purposes of the National Diabetes Audit to NHS Digital. New regulation 74C requires GP practices to allow the extraction by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (“NHS Digital”) of specified data that was formerly required under the Quality and Outcomes Framework. New regulation 74D requires GP practices to allow the extraction by NHS Digital of data relating to dementia diagnosis and treatment and alcohol related risk reduction from a patient’s medical records. New Regulation 74E requires GP practices to record and submit data required by NHS Digital for the purposes of the NHS Digital Workforce Census. New regulation 74F requires GP practices to record and submit to NHS Digital and the Department of Work and Pensions specified information about newly registered patients who are overseas visitors on forms approved by the National Health Service Commissioning Board for this purpose.

Regulation 3 inserts a new paragraph 7A into Schedule 3 which requires GP practices to identify patients aged 65 and over who are living with moderate to severe frailty, to offer patients living with severe frailty a clinical review (including a review of their medication) and to inquire about whether those patients have fallen in the last twelve months. The review is to be recorded on the patient’s enriched Summary Care Record if the patient has one. Where a patient does not have an enriched Summary Care Record, GP practices are required to advise the patient about the benefits of having such a record and to activate that record at the patient’s request.

Regulation 4 inserts a new paragraph 19A into Schedule 3 which makes provision for specified detained persons who are coming towards the end of a term of imprisonment to make an advance application to register with a GP practice prior to their release from detention in order to ensure that such persons continue to have access to GP services.

Regulation 5 removes an entry from the table in Schedule 5 which was included in error.

Part 3 of the Regulations makes amendments to the PMS Agreements Regulations which are similar in nature to those made to the GMS Contracts Regulations by regulations 2 to 5 in Part 1.

Regulation 6 inserts new regulations 67B to 67F which makes similar provision to new regulations 74B to 74F of the GMS Contracts Regulations.

Regulation 7 inserts a new paragraph 14A into Schedule 2 which makes similar provision in respect of patients aged 65 years and over who are living with moderate to severe frailty to that made in new paragraph 7A of Schedule 3 to the GMS Contracts Regulations.

Regulation 8 inserts a new paragraph 18A into Schedule 2 which makes similar provision to that made by new paragraph 19A of Schedule 3 to the GMS Contract Regulations for specified detained persons who are close to their scheduled release date to make an advance application to register with a GP practice.

Regulation 9 removes an entry from the table in Schedule 4 which was included in error.