The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts and Primary Medical Services Section 17C Agreements) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022
The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2018 (the “principal GMS regulations”) set out for Scotland the framework for general medical contracts into which Health Boards may enter under section 17J of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (the “1978 Act”). Regulation 4(a) and (b) and regulation 5 make amendments to the principal GMS regulations to describe “community treatment and care services” and “pharmacotherapy services” which the Health Board must provide to the contractor to support them. Regulation 8 makes amendments to the principal GMS regulations to require the contractor to co-operate with the Health Board to allow it to provide community treatment and care services or pharmacotherapy services and to provide that where a patient has an immediate need for those services which cannot be met by the Health Board, the contractor must instead provide those services. Regulations 9 and 12 amend the principal GMS regulations to make consequential amendments to other parts of the contract in relation to community treatment and care services and pharmacotherapy services. Regulations 4(c), 10, 11, 13 and 14 amend the principal GMS regulations to require the contractor to have a website for their practice which must contain specified information and offer certain online services, and to make consequential changes in relation to the introduction of the websites requirement.