S.I. No. 43/1956:

GENERAL INSTITUTIONAL AND SPECIALIST SERVICES (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1956.

GENERAL INSTITUTIONAL AND SPECIALIST SERVICES (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1956.

The Minister for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 5 of the Health Act, 1947 (No. 28 of 1947) and section 22 of the Health Act, 1953 (No. 26 of 1953), as amended by section 2 of the Health Act, 1954 (No. 23 of 1954), hereby makes the following Regulations :--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the General Institutional and Specialist Services (Amendment) Regulations, 1956.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 31st day of March, 1956.

3. In these Regulations--

" the Act of 1952 " means the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952) ;

" contribution year " means a contribution year prescribed under subsection (1) of section 2 of the Act of 1952 ;

" employment contribution " includes an employment contribution as referred to in section 5 of the Act of 1952 and a contribution paid outside the State for the time being treated as an employment contribution in pursuance of any reciprocal arrangements under the Act of 1952 relating to disability benefit and maternity benefit ;

" pensionable age " has the meaning assigned to it in the Act of 1952 ;

" relevant date " means the date of application for the relevant services under the Health Act, 1953 , or, in the case of a person who has attained pensionable age, the day before the date of his attaining pensionable age ;

" relevant period " means the period commencing at the beginning of the last but one complete contribution year before the relevant date and ending at the relevant date ;

" voluntary contribution " and " voluntary contributor " have the meanings assigned to them in the Act of 1952.

4. The General Institutional and Specialist Services (Temporary) Regulations, 1954 ( S.I. No. 157 of 1954 ) shall be revoked as from the commencement of these Regulations.

5. The following persons and their dependants shall be the persons for whom services shall be made available under subsection (1) of section 15 of the Health Act, 1953 --

(a) any person insured under the Act of 1952 in respect of whom in the relevant period an employment contribution is paid, payable or credited in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1952 or the regulations made thereunder ;

(b) any person insured under the Act of 1952 who, on the relevant date, is a voluntary contributor and who, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1962 and the regulations made thereunder, has not ceased, on or before that date, to be entitled to pay voluntary contributions ;

(c) any person in any of the classes mentioned in paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (2) of the said section 15.

6. Save with the consent of the health authority, institutional services in a convalescent home shall not be made available under section 15 of the act for any continuous period in excess of two weeks.

7. The General Institutional and Specialist Services Regulations, 1954 ( S.I. No. 100 of 1954 ), shall be amended as follows :--

(a) by adding " and gives to the appropriate medical practitioner or practitioners in the institution concerned all appropriate information in his possession on the medical history and condition of the person requiring the services " at the end of sub-article (2) of Article 7 ;

(b) by adding " if such an application has not already been sent to that authority by or on behalf of that person " at the end of paragraph (b) of sub-article (1) of Article 11 ;

(c) by inserting " with the consent of the Minister " after " arrangements " in sub-article (1) of Article 13 ;

(d) by adding " and gives to the medical practitioner or practitioners providing the specialist services all appropriate information in his possession on the medical history and condition of the person requiring the services " at the end of sub-article (2) of Article 13.

(e) by inserting " who are as such entitled under the relevant regulations to the services " after " Social Welfare Act, 1952 ", but within the brackets, in sub-article (1) of Article 15.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Health this ninth day of March, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-six.

THOMAS F. O'HIGGINS,

Minister for Health.