National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978

Supplementary provisions relating to Part II

33Powers of Secretary of State where services are inadequate

If the Secretary of State is satisfied, after such inquiry as he may think fit, as respects the area of any Health Board or part of any such area that the persons included in any list prepared under this Part—

(a)of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services,

(b)of dental practitioners undertaking to provide general dental services,

(c)of persons undertaking to provide general ophthalmic services, or

(d)of persons undertaking to provide pharmaceutical 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, he may authorise the Health Board 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 so far as appears to him to be necessary to meet exceptional circumstances and enable such arrangements to be made.

34Exercise of choice of medical practitioner, etc., in certain cases

Regulations may provide that where a right to choose the person by whom services are to be provided under this Part is conferred by or under any provision of this Part, that right shall, in the case of such persons as may be specified in the regulations, be exercisable on their behalf by other persons so specified.

35Prohibition of sale of medical practices

(1)Where the name of any medical practitioner is or has been at any time on or after 5th July 1948 entered in 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.

This subsection is subject to subsections (2) and (3); and the additional provisions contained in Schedule 9 have effect for the purposes of this section.

(2)Where a medical practitioner, whose name has ceased to be entered in any list of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services, practises in an area for which he has never been on any such list, subsection (1) does not render unlawful the sale of the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of his practice in that area.

(3)Subsection (1) does not prevent the sale of the goodwill or any part of the goodwill of a medical practice carried on in any area, being a sale by a medical practitioner whose name has never been entered in a fist of a Health Board (or of an Executive Council) for that area of medical practitioners undertaking to provide general medical services, notwithstanding that any part of the goodwill to be sold is attributable to a practice previously carried on by a person whose name was entered in such a list.