Citation, commencement, interpretation and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Amendment Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 1st April 2002.

(2) In these Regulations “the principal Regulations” means the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2000(2).

(3) These regulations extend to England only.

Amendment of regulation 2 of the principal Regulations

2.—(1) Regulation 2 of the principal Regulations (interpretation) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph (1)—

(a)in the appropriate alphabetical position, insert—

““dispensing services” means services corresponding to pharmaceutical services provided under a pilot scheme;”;

(b)for the definition of “nurse prescriber” there shall be substituted—

““nurse prescriber” means a person who is registered in Parts 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 of the register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council(3) pursuant to paragraph 10 of Schedule 2 to the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001(4) and against whose name is recorded in that register an annotation signifying that he is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances for patients;”;

(3) Paragraph (2) shall be deleted.

Amendment of regulation 3 of the principal Regulations

3.—(1) Regulation 3 of the principal Regulations (supply of drugs and appliances by chemists) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In paragraphs (1) and (4) for “£6.10” on each occasion it appears there shall be substituted “£6.20”.

(3) In paragraph (1)(a) for “£12.20” there shall be substituted “£12.40”.

Amendment of regulation 4 of the principal Regulations

4.—(1) Regulation 4 of the principal Regulations (supply of drugs and appliances by doctors) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In paragraphs (1) and (5) after “pharmaceutical” on each occasion it appears there shall be inserted “or dispensing”.

(3) In paragraph (1)(a) for “£12.20” there shall be substituted “£12.40”.

(4) In paragraphs (1)(b) and (4) for “£6.10” on each occasion it appears there shall be substituted “£6.20”.

Amendment of regulation 5 of the principal Regulations

5.—(1) Regulation 5 of the principal Regulations (supply of drugs and appliances by Health Authorities, NHS trusts and Primary Care Trusts) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph (1)(a) and (d) and paragraph (5) for “£6.10” on each occasion it appears there shall be substituted “£6.20”.

(3) In paragraph (1)(a) and (c) for “£12.20” on each occasion it appears there shall be substituted “£12.40”.

Amendment of regulation 6 of the principal Regulations

6.—(1) Regulation 6 of the principal Regulations (supply of drugs and appliances at Walk-in-Centres) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph (1)(a) and (b) and paragraph (4) for “£6.10” on each occasion it appears there shall be substituted “£6.20”.

(3) In paragraph (1)(a) for “£12.20” there shall be substituted “£12.40”.

Amendment of regulation 6A of the principal Regulations

7.  In regulation 6A of the principal Regulations (supply of drugs under Patient Group Directions)(5) in paragraph (1) for “£6.10” there shall be substituted “£6.20”.

Amendment of regulation 9 of the principal Regulations

8.—(1) Regulation 9 of the principal Regulations (pre-payment certificates) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph (5) for “£31.90” there shall be substituted “£32.40” and for “£87.60” there shall be substituted “£89.00”.

(3) For paragraph (9)(6) there shall be substituted—

“(9) In paragraph (7) “the relevant period” means the period beginning one month after the date on which the pre-payment certificate became valid and ending with the date of its expiry.”.

(4) For paragraph (12)(7) there shall be substituted—

“(12) In paragraph (10) “the relevant period” means the period of three months beginning one month after the date on which the pre-payment certificate became valid.”.

Amendment of Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations

9.  In column 2 of Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations (charges for fabric supports and wigs)—

(a)for “£20.60” there shall be substituted “£20.90”;

(b)for “£31.00” there shall be substituted “£31.50”;

(c)for “£50.70” there shall be substituted “£51.50”;

(d)for “£133.70” there shall be substituted “£135.90”;

(e)for “£195.40” there shall be substituted “£198.60”.

Transitional provisions

10.  Where, on or after 1st April 2002—

(a)any appliance specified in Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations is supplied pursuant to an order given before that date; or

(b)any pre-payment certificate is granted under regulation 9 of the principal Regulations pursuant to an application under that regulation which was received before that date,

the principal Regulations shall have effect in relation to that supply or, as the case may be, grant as if these Regulations had not come into force.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2000 (“the principal Regulations”).

Regulation 2 inserts in Regulation 2 of the principal Regulations a definition of dispensing services to take account of doctors providing services equivalent to pharmaceutical services under a pilot scheme. References to such services are added to Regulation 4 of the principal Regulations by Regulation 4(2). Regulation 2 also amends the definition of “nurse prescriber” to reflect the extended prescribing responsibilities granted to certain nurses.

Regulations 3, 4(3) and (4), 5 to 7, 8(2) and 9 increase the charges payable under the principal Regulations but regulation 10 makes transitional provision for the old charges to apply in respect of certain appliances ordered and pre-payment certificates applied for before the coming into force of the Regulations.

Regulations 8(3) and 8(4) amend the definition of “relevant period” in Regulations 9(9) and (12) of the principal Regulations in order to make clearer the periods in respect of which refunds for pre-payment certificates may be claimed in certain circumstances.