National Health Service Act 1977

Pharmaceutical servicesE+W+S

41 Arrangements for pharmaceutical services.E+W+S

[F1It is the duty of every Family Practitioner Committee, in accordance with regulations, to arrange as respects their locality for the [F2provision to persons who are in that locality of]]

(a)proper and sufficient drugs and medicines and listed appliances which are ordered for those persons by a medical practitioner in pursuance of his functions in the health service, the Scottish health service, the Northern Ireland health service or the armed forces of the Crown (excluding forces of a Commonwealth country and forces raised in a colony; . . . F3

[F4(b)proper and sufficient drugs and medicines which are ordered for those persons by a dental practitioner in pursuance of the provision by [F5a health authority][F6or an NHS trust] of dental services; . . . F7

(c)listed drugs and medicines which are ordered for those persons by a dental practitioner in pursuance of the provision by him of general dental services.][F8and]

[F9(cc)listed drugs and medicines and listed appliances which are ordered for those persons by a prescribed description of registered nurse, midwife or health visitor in pursuance of functions in the health service, the Scottish health service or the Northern Ireland health service or the armed forces of the Crown (excluding forces of a Commonwealth country and forces raised in a colony); and]

[F10(d)such other services as may be prescribed.]

The services so provided are in this Act referred to as “pharmaceutical services”.

In this section—

• “listed” means included in a list for the time being approved by the Secretary for the purposes of this section; and

• “the Scottish health service” and “the Northern Ireland health service” mean respectively the health service established in pursuance of section 1 of the M1National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 or any service provided in pursuance of Article 4(a) of the M2Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972.

[F1342Regulations as to pharmaceutical services.E+W+S

(1)Regulations shall provide for securing that arrangements made by a Family Practitioner Committee under section 41 above will enable persons in the Committee’s locality for whom drugs, medicines or appliances mentioned in that section are ordered as there mentioned to receive them from persons with whom such arrangements have been made.

(2)The regulations shall include provision—

(a)for the preparation and publication by a Committee of one or more lists of persons, other than medical practitioners and dental practitioners, who undertake to provide pharmaceutical services from premises in the Committee’s locality;

(b)that an application to a Committee for inclusion in such a list shall be made in the prescribed manner and shall state—

(i)the services which the applicant will undertake to provide and, if they consist of or include the supply of appliances, which appliances he will undertake to supply; and

(ii)the premises from which he will undertake to provide those services;

(c)that, except in prescribed cases—

(i)an application for inclusion in such a list by a person not already included; and

(ii)an application by a person already included in such a list for inclusion also in respect of services or premises other than those already listed in relation to him,

(d)for the removal of an entry in respect of premises from a list if it has been determined in the prescribed manner that the person to whom the entry relates—

(i)has never provided from those premises; or

(ii)has ceased to provide from them, the services, or any of the services, which he is listed as undertaken to provide from them.

(3)The regulations may include provision—

(a)that an application to a Committee may be granted in respect of some only of the services specified in it;

(b)that an application to a Committee relating to services of a prescribed description shall be granted only if it appears to the Committee that the applicant has satisfied such conditions with regard to the provision of those services as may be prescribed;

[F14(ba)that an application to a Committee by a person who qualified to have his name registered under the Pharmacy Act 1954 by virtue of section 4A of that Act (qualification by European diploma) shall not be granted unless the applicant satisfies the Committee that he has the knowledge of English which, in the interests of himself and persons making use of the services to which the application relates, is necessary for the provision of pharmaceutical services in the Committee’s locality.]

(c)that the inclusion of a person in a list in pursuance of such an application may be for a fixed period;

(d)that, where the premises from which an application states that the applicant will undertake to provide services are in an area of a prescribed description, the applicant shall not be included in the list unless his inclusion is approved by [F15reference to prescribed criteria by the Family Health Services Authority in whose locality those premises are situated; and]

(e)that [F16that Family Health Services Authority] may give its approval subject to conditions.

(4)The regulations shall include provision conferring on such persons as may be prescribed rights of appeal from decisions made by virtue of this section.

(5)The regulations shall be so framed as to preclude—

(a)a person included in a list published under subsection (2)(a) above ;and (b) an employee of such a person; from taking part in the decision whether an application such as is mentioned in subsection (2)(c) above should be granted or an appeal against such a decision brought by virtue of subsection (4) above should be allowed.]

43 Persons authorised to provide pharmaceutical services.E+W+S

(1)No arrangements shall be made by [F17a Family Practitioner Committee] (except as may be provided by [F18or under] regulations) 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)No arrangements for the dispensing of medicines shall be made (except as may be provided by [F18or under] regulations) with persons other than persons who are registered pharmacists, or are persons lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business in accordance with section 69 of the M6Medicines Act 1968 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.

[F19(3)No arrangements for the provision of pharmaceutical services falling within section 41(d) above shall be made with persons other than those who are registered pharmacists or are of a prescribed description.]