National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978

27 Arrangements for provision of pharmaceutical services.S

(1)It shall be the duty of every Health Board to make, in accordance with regulations, arrangements as respects its area for the [F1provision] to persons who are in that area 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 health service for England and Wales, 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

[F2(b)proper and sufficient drugs and medicines which are ordered for those persons by a dental practitioner in pursuance of the provision by that Board [F3or by an NHS trust] of dental services; and

(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 [F4; and

(d)such services as may be prescribed,]]

and the [F5provision of drugs, medicines, appliances and services in accordance with the arrangements is] in this Act referred to as “pharmaceutical services”.

In this subsection—

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

• “the health service for England and Wales” and “the Northern Ireland health service” mean respectively the health service established in pursuance of section 1 of the M1National Health Service Act 1946 or any service provided in pursuance of Article 4(a) of the M2Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972.

[F6(2)Regulations shall provide for securing that arrangements made by a Health Board under subsection (1) will enable persons in the Board’s area for whom drugs, medicines or appliances mentioned in that subsection are ordered as there mentioned [F7, or to whom services mentioned in subsection (1)(d) are to be provided,] to receive them from persons with whom such arrangements have been made.

(3)The regulations shall include provision—

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

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

(i)the [F8pharmaceutical] 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 [F8pharmaceutical] services or premises other than those already listed in relation to him,

shall be granted only if the Health Board is satisfied, in accordance with the regulations, that it is necessary or desirable to grant it in order to secure in the neighbourhood in which the premises are located the adequate provision by persons included in the list of the services, or some of the services, specified in the application; and

(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 [F8pharmaceutical] services, or any of the services, which he is listed as undertaking to provide from them.

(4)The regulations may include provision—

(a)that an application to a Health Board may be granted in respect of some only of the [F8pharmaceutical] services specified in it;

(b)that an application to a Health Board relating to [F8pharmaceutical] services of a prescribed description shall be granted only if it appears to the Board that the applicant has satisfied such conditions with regard to the provision of those [F8pharmaceutical] services as may be prescribed;

[F9(ba)that an application to a Health Board 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 Board that he has the knowledge of English which, in the interests of himself and the persons making use of the services to which the application relates, is necessary for the provision of pharmaceutical services in the Board’s area.]

(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 [F8pharmaceutical] services are in an area of a prescribed description, the applicant shall not be included in the list unless his inclusion is approved by a prescribed body and by reference to [F10prescribed criteria]; and

(e)that the prescribed body may give its approval subject to conditions.

(5)The regulations shall include provision conferring on such persons as may be prescribed rights of appeal from decisions made by virtue of subsection (3) or (4).

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

(a)a person included in a list published under subsection (3)(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 (3)(c) above should be granted or an appeal against such a decision brought by virtue of subsection (5) above should be allowed.]