General Medical And Dental Services, Pharmaceutical Services And Supplementary Ophthalmic Services.
Administration.
31.-(1) There shall be constituted in accordance with the Executive provisions of the Fifth Schedule to this Act for the area of Councils, every local health authority, a council, to be called the Executive Council, for the purpose of exercising functions with respect to the provision of services under this Part of this Act, and the supplementary provisions contained in the said Schedule shall apply to every such Council.
(2) Where it appears to the Minister, either before or after Executive Councils have been constituted under the last foregoing subsection, to be expedient in the interests of the efficiency of the services provided under this Part of this Act that a single Executive Council should be constituted for the area of two or more local health authorities, he may by order provide for the constitution of such a Council, and the Fifth Schedule to this Act shall apply to the constitution thereof subject to the modification that the members of the Council to be appointed by the local health authority shall be appointed by the several authorities concerned in such proportions as the order may provide.
Where any such order is revoked by a subsequent order of the Minister, then, subject to any new order made under this subsection, separate Executive Councils shall be constituted under this section for the areas of the local health authorities concerned.
(3) Where it appears to the Minister that owing to the special circumstances of the area for which an Executive Council has been or is to be constituted under this section it is desirable to vary the constitution of that Council, he may by order provide for such variation :
Provided that, before making any such order with respect to a Council already constituted, he shall consult with that Council, and in making any order under this subsection he shall have regard to the desirability of maintaining, so far as practicable, the same numerical proportion as between the members appointed by the several authorities and bodies mentioned in the Fifth Schedule to this Act.
(4) Where it appears to the Minister to be expedient in the interests of the efficiency of the services provided under this Part of this Act that a joint committee should be established for the areas of two or more Executive Councils for the purpose of exercising some but not all of the functions of the Executive Council, the Minister may by order constitute such a joint committee and provide for the exercise by that committee of such of the said functions as may be specified in the order, and for the payment of the expenses of the committee by the constituent councils, and for the application, with such modifications as may be so specified, to that committee of any provisions of this Act relating to those functions, and for any of the matters for which, in relation to an Executive Council, regulations made under the Fifth Schedule to this Act may provide.
(5) Any order made under this section, and any order revoking such an order, may contain such supplementary and incidental provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient, including provision for the transfer of officers and their compensation by the Minister and the transfer of property and liabilities.
32.–(1) Where the Minister is satisfied that a local committee formed for the area of any Executive Council is representative-
(a) of the medical practitioners of that area, or
( b) of the persons providing pharmaceutical services in that area, or
(c) of the dental practitioners of that area,
the Minister may recognise that committee, and any committee so recognised shall be called the Local Medical Committee, the Local Pharmaceutical Committee or the Local Dental Committee, as the case may be, for the area concerned.
(2) The Executive Council shall in exercising their functions under this Part of this Act consult with the said Committees on such occasions and to such extent as may be prescribed, and the said Committees shall exercise such other functions as may be prescribed.
General Medical Services
33.-(1) It shall be the duty of every Executive Council in accordance with regulations to make as respects their area arrangements with medical practitioners for the provision by them as from the appointed day, whether at a health centre or otherwise, of personal medical services for all persons in the area who wish to take advantage of the arrangements, and the services provided in accordance with the arrangements are in this Act referred to as “general medical services.”
(2) Regulations may make provision for defining the personal medical services to be provided and for securing that the arrangements will be such that all persons availing themselves of those services will receive adequate personal care and attendance, and the regulations shall include provision-
(a) for the preparation and publication of lists of medical practitioners who undertake to provide general medical services;
(b) ) for conferring a right on any person to choose, in accordance with the prescribed procedure, the medical practitioner by whom he is to be attended, subject to the consent of the practitioner so chosen and to any prescribed limit on the number of patients to be accepted by any practitioner;
(c) for the distribution among medical practitioners whose names are on the lists of any persons who have indicated a wish to obtain general medical services but who have not made any choice of medical practitioner or have been refused by the practitioner chosen;
(d) for the issue to patients or their personal representatives by medical practitioners providing such services as aforesaid of certificates reasonably required by them under or for the purposes of any enactment.
34.-(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the disqualification of practitioners, every medical practitioner engaged in medical practice (otherwise than as a paid assistant) who wishes to provide general medical services shall be entitled, on making an application at any time before the appointed day in the prescribed manner to the Executive Council for any area in which he is practising, to be included in the list of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services for persons in that area.
(2) With a view to securing that the number of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services in the areas of different Executive Councils or in different parts of those areas is adequate, the Minister shall constitute a committee, to be called the Medical Practices Committee, for the purpose of considering and determining applications-
(a) made before the appointed day by a medical practitioner who is not entitled under the last foregoing subsection to be included in the list of an Executive Council, for inclusion in that list; and
(b) made on or after the appointed day for inclusion in any such list kept by an Executive Council for any area;
and all such applications made in the prescribed manner to an Executive Council shall be referred by that Council to the said Committee, and any medical practitioner whose application is granted by the said Committee shall, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the disqualification of practitioners, be entitled to be included in the list.
(3) The Medical Practices Committee may refuse any such application on the ground that the number of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services in the area or part of an area concerned is already adequate, and, if in the opinion of the Committee additional practitioners are required for any area or part but the number of persons who have made applications exceeds the number required, the Committee shall select the persons whose applications are to be granted and shall refuse the other applications.
Before selecting any persons under this subsection the Medical Practices Committee shall consult the Executive Council concerned, and that Council shall, if a Local Medical Committee has been formed for the area of the Council and recognised under the last but one foregoing section, consult that Committee before expressing their views on the persons to be selected.
(4) Except as provided by the last foregoing subsection, the Medical Practices Committee shall not refuse any such application, but the Committee may grant an application subject to conditions excluding the provision of general medical services by the applicant in such part or parts of the area of the Executive Council as the Committee may specify.
(5) The Medical Practices Committee shall be constituted in accordance with the Sixth Schedule to this Act and the provisions of that Schedule shall apply to that Committee.
(6) A medical practitioner who has made such an application as aforesaid which has been refused or has been granted subject to the said conditions, may appeal to the Minister, and the Minister may, on any such appeal, direct the said Committee to grant the application either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as the Minister may specify.
(7) Where the Medical Practices Committee select persons from a number of applicants, the persons selected shall not, during the period for bringing an appeal to the Minister or pending the determination of any such appeal, be included in the list in question, and on any such appeal the Minister may, if he grants the appeal, direct either that the application shall be granted in addition to the applications already granted or that it shall be granted instead of such one of those applications as the Minister may specify:
Provided that in the latter case he shall make the other applicant a party to the appeal, and no further appeal shall be brought by that applicant in respect of the application in question.
(8) Regulations shall make provision-
(a) for requiring Executive Councils to make reports, at such times and in such manner as may be prescribed, to the Medical Practices Committee as to the number of medical practitioners required to meet the reasonable needs of their area and the different parts thereof and as to the occurrence of any vacancies on the lists of medical practitioners kept by them under this Part of this Act and as to the need for filling such vacancies;
(b) for prescribing the procedure for the determination of applications by the Medical Practices Committee and for the making and determination of appeals to the Minister under this section, and for requiring Executive Councils and applicants to be informed of the decisions of the Committee and the Minister;
(g) The Medical Practices Committee shall, in a case where persons have to be selected from a number of applicants, and the Minister shall, on an appeal in any such case, have regard to any desire expressed by any applicant to practise with other medical practitioners already providing general medical services in the area or part of an area concerned, and of any desire expressed by such other medical practitioners to take any applicant into practice with them, and shall have special regard to the matters aforesaid in cases where an applicant is related to any such other medical practitioner.
35.-(1) Where the name of any medical practitioner is, on the appointed day or at any time thereafter, entered on any list of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services, it shall be unlawful subsequently to sell the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of the medical practice of that medical practitioner:
Provided that, where a medical practitioner, whose name has ceased to be entered on any such list as aforesaid, practises in the area of an Executive Council on whose list his name has never been entered, this subsection shall not render unlawful the sale of the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of his practice in that area.
(2) Any person who sells or buys the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of a medical practice which it is unlawful to sell by virtue of the last foregoing subsection, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding-
(a) such amount as will in the opinion of the court secure that he derives no benefit from the offence; and
(b) the further amount of five hundred pounds;
or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
(3) Where any medical practitioner or the personal representative of any medical practitioner knowingly sells or lets premises previously used by that practitioner for the purposes of his practice to another medical practitioner, or in any other way disposes or procures the disposition of the premises, whether by a single transaction or a series of transactions with a view to enabling another practitioner to use the premises for the purposes of his practice, and the consideration for the sale, letting or other disposition is substantially in excess of the consideration which might reasonably have been expected if the premises had not previously been used for the purposes of a medical practice, the sale, letting or other disposition of the premises shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to be a sale by the first medical practitioner or his personal representative of the goodwill or part of the goodwill of the practice of that practitioner to that other practitioner.
Where a medical practitioner or his personal representative sells, lets, or disposes or procures the disposition of any premises together with any other property, the court shall, for the purposes of this subsection, make such apportionment of the consideration as it thinks just.
(4) Where in pursuance of any partnership agreement between medical practitioners-
(a) any valuable consideration, other than the performance of services in the partnership business, is given by a partner or proposed partner as consideration for his being taken into partnership;
( b) any valuable consideration is given to a partner, on or in contemplation of his retirement or of his acceptance of a reduced share of the partnership profits, or to the personal representative of a partner on his death, not being a payment in respect of that partner’s share in past earnings of the partnership or in any partnership assets or any other payment required to be made to him as the result of the final settlement of accounts, as between him and the other partners, in respect of past transactions of the partnership; or
(c) services are performed by any partner for a consideration substantially less than those services might reasonably have been expected to be worth having regard to the circumstances at the time when the agreement was made;
there shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been a sale of the goodwill,or part of the goodwill of the practice of any partner to whom or to whose personal representative the consideration or any part thereof is given or, as the case may be, for whose benefit the services are performed, to the partner or each of the partners by or on whose behalf the consideration or any part thereof was given or, as the case may be, the partner who performed the services, and the said sale shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been effected-
(i) in a case to which paragraph (a) or paragraph ( b) applies, at the time when the consideration was given or, if the consideration was not all given at the same time, at the time when the first part thereof was given; or
(ii) in a case to which paragraph ( c) applies, at the time when the agreement was made.
(5) Where any medical practitioner performs services as an assistant to another medical practitioner for a remuneration substantially less than those services might reasonably have been expected to be worth having regard to the circumstances at the time when the remuneration was fixed and subsequently succeeds, whether as the result of a partnership agreement or otherwise, to the practice or any part of the practice of the second practitioner, there shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been a sale of the goodwill or part of the goodwill of the said practice by the second practitioner to the first practitioner, unless it is shown that the said remuneration of the first practitioner was not fixed in contemplation of his succeeding to the said practice or any part thereof , and the said sale shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been effected at the time when the remuneration was fixed.
(6) For the purposes of this section-
(a) if a medical practitioner or the personal representative of a medical practitioner agrees, for valuable consideration, to do or refrain from doing any act, or allow any act to be done, for the purpose of facilitating the succession of another medical practitioner to the practice or any part of the practice of the first practitioner, the transaction shall be deemed to be a sale of the goodwill or part of the goodwill of that practice by the first practitioner or his personal representative to the second practitioner;
(b) ) if any medical practitioner or any person acting on his behalf gives any valuable consideration to another medical practitioner or the personal representative of another medical practitioner, and the first medical practitioner succeeds or has succeeded, whether before or after the transaction aforesaid to the practice or any part of the practice of the second practitioner, the transaction shall be deemed to be a sale of the goodwill or part of the goodwill of the practice of the second practitioner by him or by his personal representative to the first practitioner, unless it is shown that no part of the consideration was given in respect of the said goodwill or part thereof :
Provided that this subsection shall not apply to anything done in relation to the acquisition of premises for the purposes of a medical practice, or in pursuance of a partnership agreement, or to the performance of services as an assistant to a medical practitioner.
(7) In determining for the purposes of this section the consideration given in respect of any transaction, the court shall have regard to any other transaction appearing to the court to be associated with the first transaction, and shall estimate the total consideration given in respect of both or all the transactions and shall apportion it between those transactions in such manner as it thinks just.
(8) Where any consideration is, with the knowledge and consent of a medical practitioner or his personal representative, given to any other person, and it appears to the court that the medical practitioner or, if he has died, his estate or some person beneficially interested in his estate derives a substantial benefit from the giving of the consideration, the consideration shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been given to the medical practitioner or his personal representative, as the case may be.
(9) Any medical practitioner or the personal representative of any medical practitioner may apply to the Medical Practices Committee for their opinion as to whether a proposed transaction or series of transactions involves the sale of the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of a medical practice which it is unlawful to sell by virtue of this section, and the Committee shall consider any such application and, if they are satisfied that the transaction or series of transactions does not involve the giving of valuable consideration in respect of the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of such a medical practice, they shall issue to the applicant a certificate to that effect, which shall be in the prescribed form and shall set out all material circumstances disclosed to the Committee.
(10) Where any person is charged with an offence under this section in respect of any transaction or series of transactions it shall be a defence to the charge to prove that the transaction or series of transactions was certified by the Medical Practices Committee under the last foregoing subsection, and any document purporting to be such a certificate shall be admissible in evidence and shall be deemed to be such a certificate unless the contrary is proved:
Provided that, if it appears to the court that the applicant for any such certificate failed to disclose to the Committee all the material circumstances or made any misrepresentation with respect thereto, it may disregard the certificate and this subsection shall not apply thereto.
(11) A prosecution for an offence under this section shall only be instituted by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Medical Practices Committee shall, at the request of the said Director, furnish him with a copy of any certificate issued by them under subsection (g) of this section and with copies of any documents produced to them in connection with the application for that certificate.
(12) For the purposes of this and the next two following sections, references to the goodwill of a medical practice shall, in relation to a medical practitioner practising in partnership, be construed as referring to his share of the goodwill of the partnership practice.
36.-(1) Every medical practitioner whose name is entered on the appointed day on any list of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services shall be entitled to be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament compensation in accordance with this section in respect of any loss suffered by him by reason that he is or will be unable to sell the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of his practice by virtue of the last foregoing section.
(2) the aggregate amount of the compensation to be paid under this section shall be the appropriate proportion of sixty-six million pounds, exclusive of any sums paid by way of interest :
Provided that, if the aggregate number of medical practitioners included on the appointed day in lists of medical practitioners providing general medical services, or lists of medical practitioners providing services under any provisions in force in Scotland corresponding with the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act, falls short of seventeen thousand seven hundred, the said sum of sixty-six million pounds shall be reduced by an amount calculated by multiplying the number by which the said aggregate number falls short as aforesaid by one seventeen thousand nine hundredth part of sixty-six million pounds.
(3) Regulations shall-
(a) prescribe the manner in which and the time within which claims for compensation are to be made, and provide for determining whether any claimant has suffered loss by reason of the matters referred to in subsection (1) of this section and, if so, the extent of that loss;
( b) provide for the distribution of the said aggregate amount among the persons who have suffered such loss as aforesaid, having regard to the extent of their respective losses;
(c) prescribe the manner in which and the times at which the compensation is to be paid, and secure that, except in such circumstances as may be prescribed, it shall not be paid until the retirement or death of the medical practitioner concerned, whichever first occurs; and
(d) provide for paying out of moneys provided by Parliament interest at two and three-quarter per cent. per annum on the amount of the compensation payable to any medical practitioner, in respect of the period from the appointed day until the time when the compensation is paid ;
and before making any regulations under this subsection the Minister shall consult such organisations as may be recognised by him as representing the medical profession.
(4) For the purpose of determining the appropriate proportion of the said sum of sixty-six million pounds-
(a) the aggregate amount of the losses in respect of which compensation will be payable under this section and under the corresponding provision for Scotland, respectively, shall be calculated in such manner as the Treasury may direct; and
(b) the said sum of sixty-six million pounds or, as the case may be, the said sum as reduced in pursuance of the proviso to subsection (2) of this section shall be apportioned as between England and Wales on the one hand and Scotland on the other, having regard to the said respective aggregate losses, and the amount apportioned to England and Wales shall be the appropriate proportion of that sum for the purposes of this section.
- Where the Medical Practices Committee are satisfied, on the application of a medical practitioner or his personal representative that-
(a) the practitioner has retired from practice or died during the period between the passing of this Act and the appointed day ; and
(b) the goodwill of his practice has not been sold in whole or in part before the appointed day;
the last two foregoing sections shall apply in relation to that medical practitioner and to his practice as if his name were entered on the appointed day on a list of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services.
Pharmaceutical Services, General Dental Services and Supplementary Ophthalmic Services.
38.-(1) It shall be the duty of every Executive Council in accordance with regulations to make as respects their area arrangements for the supply as from. the appointed day, whether at a health centre or otherwise, of proper and sufficient drugs and medicines and prescribed appliances to all persons in the area who are receiving general medical services, and of prescribed drugs and medicines to all persons in the area who are receiving general dental services, and the services provided in accordance with the arrangements are in this Act referred to as “pharmaceutical services”.
(2) Regulations may make provision for securing that arrangements made under this section will be such as to enable any person receiving general medical services to .obtain proper and sufficient drugs and medicines and prescribed appliances if ordered by the medical practitioner rendering those services, foam any persons with whom arrangements have been made under this section, and to enable any person receiving general dental services to obtain prescribed drugs and medicines, if ordered by the dental practitioner rendering those services, from any persons with whom such arrangements have been made, and the regulations shall include provision-
(a) ) for the preparation and publication of lists of persons who undertake to provide pharmaceutical services; and
( b) for conferring a right, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the disqualification of practitioners, on any person who wishes to be included in any such list to be so included for the purpose of supplying such drugs, medicines and appliances as that person is entitled by law to sell.
39.-(1) Except as may be provided by regulations, no arrangement shall be made by the Executive Council with a medical practitioner or dental practitioner under which he is required or agrees to provide pharmaceutical services to any person to whom he is rendering general medical services or general dental services.
(2) Except as may be provided by regulations, no arrangements for the dispensing of medicines shall be made with persons other than persons who are registered pharmacists or are authorised sellers of poisons within the meaning of the Pharmacy and Poisons Act, 1933, and who undertake that all medicines supplied by them under the arrangements made under this Part of this Act shall be dispensed either by or under the direct supervision of a registered pharmacist or by a person who for three years immediately before the sixteenth day of December, nineteen hundred and eleven, acted as a dispenser to a medical practitioner or a public institution.
(3) Nothing in this Act shall interfere with the rights and privileges conferred by the Apothecaries Act, 1815, upon any person qualified under that Act to act as an assistant to any apothecary in compounding and dispensing medicines.
40.-(1) It shall be the duty of every Executive Council in accordance with regulations to make as respects their area arrangements with dental practitioners under which, as from the appointed day, any person in the area for whom a dental practitioner undertakes in accordance with the arrangements to provide dental treatment and appliances, whether at a health centre or otherwise, shall receive such treatment and appliances, and the services provided in accordance with the arrangements are in this Act referred to as ”general dental services”.
(2) Regulations may make provision as to the arrangements to be made under the last foregoing subsection, and shall include provision-
(a) for the preparation and publication of lists of dental practitioners who undertake to provide general dental services;
(b) for conferring a right, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the disqualification of practitioners, on any dental practitioner, who wishes to be included in any such list, to be so included;
(c) for conferring a right on any person to choose in accordance with the prescribed procedure the dental practitioner from whom he is to receive general dental services, subject to the consent of the practitioner so chosen;
(d) for constituting a Board, to be called the Dental Estimates Board, of whom the chairman and a majority of the members shall be dental practitioners, for the purpose of carrying out such duties as may be prescribed with respect to the approval of estimates of dental treatment and appliances;
( e) for providing, in relation to the Dental Estimates Board, for any of the matters for which, in relation to an Executive Council , provision is or may be made by or under the supplementary provisions of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, and also for the remuneration of members of the Board.
41.-(1) Without prejudice to the duty of the Minister under Part II of this Act to provide, as part of the hospital and specialist services, services in connection with the diagnosis and treatment of disease or defect of the eyes and the supply of optical appliances. it shall be the duty of every Executive Council to make as respects their area, in accordance with regulations, arrangements with medical practitioners having the prescribed qualifications, ophthalmic opticians and dispensing opticians for securing, as from the appointed day, the testing of sight by such medical practitioners and ophthalmic opticians and the supply by ophthalmic opticians and dispensing opticians of optical appliances, and the services provided in accordance with the arrangements are in this Act referred to as ” supplementary ophthalmic services”.
(2) The functions of an Executive Council under this section shall, to such extent as. may be prescribed, be exercised on behalf of the Council by a committee to be called the “Ophthalmic Services Committee” constituted for the area of the Council in accordance with regulations so as to include members appointed by the Executive Council and by medical practitioners having the prescribed qualifications, ophthalmic opticians and dispensing opticians; respectively, and the regulations may make provision in relation to the Ophthalmic Services Committee, for any of the matters for which, in relation to an Executive Council, provision is or may be made by or under the supplementary provisions of the Fifth Schedule to this Act.
(3) Regulations may make provision as to the arrangements to be made under this section, and shall include provision-
(a) ) for the preparation and publication of lists of medical practitioners, ophthalmic Opticians and dispensing opticians, respectively, who undertake to provide supplementary ophthalmic services;
(b) ) for conferring a right, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the disqualification of practitioners, on any medical practitioner having the prescribed qualifications, ophthalmic optician or dispensing optician who wishes to be included in the appropriate list, to be so included;
(c) for conferring on any person a right to choose in accordance with the prescribed procedure the medical practitioner or ophthalmic optician by whom his sight is to be tested or from whom any prescription for the supply of optical appliances is to be obtained and the ophthalmic or dispensing optician who is to supply the appliances.
(4) Where the Minister is satisfied that adequate ophthalmic services are available in the area of any Executive Council through the hospital and specialist services provided under Part II of this Act, he may by order direct that this section shall cease to apply to that area, and this section shall thereupon cease to apply as from a date specified in the order; and any such order may contain such consequential and incidental provisions as the Minister considers necessary or expedient.
Supplementary Provisions.
42.-(1) There shall be constituted in accordance with the provisions of the Seventh Schedule to this Act, a tribunal for the purpose of this section referred to as ‘the Tribunal, inquiring into cases where representations are made in the prescribed manner to the Tribunal by an Executive Council or any other person that the continued inclusion of any person in any list prepared under this Part of this Act-
(a) of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services;
(b) of persons undertaking to provide pharmaceutical services;
(c) of dental practitioners undertaking to provide general dental services;
(d) of medical practitioners undertaking to provide supplementary ophthalmic services;
(e) of ophthalmic opticians undertaking to provide supplementary ophthalmic services; or
(f) of dispensing opticians undertaking to provide supplementary ophthalmic services;
would be prejudicial to the efficiency of the services in question.
(2) The supplementary provisions contained in the said Seventh Schedule shall apply in relation to the Tribunal.
(3) The Tribunal, on receiving representations from an Executive Council shall, and in any other case may, inquire into the case and, if they are of opinion that the continued inclusion of the said person in any list to which the representations relate would be prejudicial to the efficiency of the said services, shall direct that his name be removed from that list, and may also, if they think fit, direct that his name be removed from, or not be included in, any corresponding list kept by any other Executive Council under this Part of this Act.
(4) An appeal shall lie to the Minister from any direction of the Tribunal under the last foregoing subsection, and the Minister may confirm or revoke that direction.
(5) Where the Tribunal direct that the name of any person be removed from or not included in any list or lists, the Executive Council or Councils concerned shall-
(a) if no appeal is brought, at the end of the period for bringing an appeal; or
(b) if an appeal is brought and the decision of the Tribunal is confirmed by the Minister, on receiving notice of the Minister’s decision,
remove the name of the person concerned from the list or lists in question, and, until such time as the Tribunal or the Minister direct to the contrary, that person shall be disqualified for inclusion in any list to which the direction relates.
(6) If under any provisions in force in Scotland corresponding to the provisions of this Part of this Act a person is for the time being disqualified for inclusion in all lists prepared under those provisions of persons undertaking to provide services of one or more of the kinds specified in subsection (1) of this section, that person shall, so long as that disqualification is in force, be disqualified for inclusion in any list prepared under this Part of this Act of persons undertaking to provide services of that kind or of those kinds, and the name of that person shall be removed from every such list in which his name is included.
(7) Regulations shall make provision-
(a) for prescribing the procedure for the holding of inquiries by the Tribunal and for the making and determining of appeals to the Minister under this section and, in particular, for securing that any person who is the subject of an inquiry by the Tribunal under this section shall have an opportunity
(i)of appearing, either in person or by counsel or solicitor or such other representative as may be prescribed, before the Tribunal and, in the case of an appeal, before a person appointed by the Minister; and
(ii)of being heard by the Tribunal or the person appointed and of calling witnesses and producing other evidence on his behalf;
and that the hearing, whether by the Tribunal or the person appointed as aforesaid, shall be in public if the person who is the subject of the inquiry so requests;
(b)for conferring on the Tribunal and on any person so appointed by the Minister such powers as the Minister considers necessary, and for that purpose to apply with any necessary modifications, any of the provisions of section two hundred and ninety of the Local Government Act, 1933; and
(c) for the publication of the decisions of the Tribunal and the Minister under this section and of the imposition and removal of any disqualification imposed by virtue of the last foregoing subsection.
(8) Where, before the appointed day-
(a) the name of any person has after inquiry been removed from any list kept by an insurance committee under the National Health Insurance Act, 1936, or any enactment repealed by that Act, of medical practitioners;
(b) an application by any person for inclusion in a list of persons supplying drugs, medicines and appliances under the National Health Insurance Act, 1936, or any enactment repealed by that Act, has after inquiry been refused, or the name of any person has after inquiry been removed from any such list;
(c) any dental practitioner has been declared under regulations made under the National Health Insurance Act, 1936, or any enactment repealed by that Act, to be permanently unsuitable for service in connection with the provision of dental benefit within the meaning of those regulations;
(d) an application by any person for inclusion in a list of persons recognised for the purpose of the provision of optical appliances under the National Health Insurance (Additional Benefits) Regulations, 1930, has been rejected, or the name of any person has after inquiry been removed from any such list;
and the name of that person has not before the appointed day been included in or restored to the list or, in the case of a dental practitioner, the declaration of unsuitability has not before the appointed day been withdrawn, that person shall, until such time as the Tribunal or the Minister directs to the contrary, be disqualified for inclusion in the appropriate list of those referred to in subsection (1) of this section.
- If the Minister is satisfied, after such inquiry as he may think fit, as respects any area or part of an area of an Executive Council that the persons included in any list prepared under this part of this Act
(a) ) of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services;
(b) ) of persons undertaking to provide pharmaceutical services; or
(c) of dental practitioners undertaking to provide general dental services,
are not such as to secure the adequate provision of the services in question in that area or part, or that for any other reason any considerable number of persons in any such area or part are not receiving satisfactory services under the arrangements in force under this Part of this Act, he may authorise the Executive Council to make such other arrangements as. he may approve, or may himself make other arrangements, and may dispense with any of the requirements of regulations made under this Part of this Act so far as appears to him to be necessary to meet exceptional circumstances and enable such arrangements to be made.
44.-(1) Regulations may provide for the making and recovery by persons providing general dental services or supplementary ophthalmic services of such· charges as may be, prescribed-
(a) in respect of the supply, as part of those services, of any dental or optical appliance which is, at the request of the person supplied, of a more expensive type than the prescribed type or in respect of the replacement or repair of any such appliance; or
(b) in respect of the replacement or repair of any dental or optical appliance supplied as part of the services aforesaid, if it is determined in the prescribed manner that the replacement or repair is necessitated by lack of care on the part of the person supplied,
(2) Regulations may provide that, in the case of such special dental treatment as may be prescribed, being treatment provided as part of the general dental services, such charges as may be prescribed may be made and recovered by the person providing the services.
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Regulations may provide that, where a right to choose the person by whom services are to be provided under this Part of this Act is conferred by or under any provision of this Part of this Act, that right shall, in the case of such persons as may be specified in the regulations, be exercised on their behalf by other persons so specified.
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Where a health centre provides facilities for general medical services, general dental services or pharmaceutical services the centre shall, subject to regulations, be made avail able for those services on such terms as may be agreed between the Executive Council and the local health authority providing the centre or, in default of agreement between them, as may be determined by the Minister, and the Executive Council may make such charges for the use of the centre by medical practitioners or dental practitioners providing such services as aforesaid as the Council think sufficient for the purpose of defraying the payments made by them to the local health authority, and may recover those charges from the medical practitioners and dental practitioners using the centre.
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Any dispute arising under this Part of this Act or any regulation made thereunder between an Executive Council and a person receiving, or claiming that he is entitled to receive, any services under this Part of this Act, or between an Executive Council and a local health authority as to the conduct of a health centre, shall be referred to and decided by the Minister.
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For the purpose of affording opportunities for persons providing any services under this Part of this Act, to keep themselves informed of the latest developments in professional knowledge, the Minister may enter into arrangements with universities, medical schools and dental schools, and any other persons for the provision of courses which the persons providing such services as aforesaid may attend, and may, with the approval of the Treasury, make payments towards the cost of the provision of such courses and the expenses of persons attending such courses.