Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Charges for Drugs and Appliances (Abolition) and Supply of Appliances Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 and shall come into operation on 1st April 2010.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations –

"appliance" means a listed appliance within the meaning of Article 63 of the Order but does not include a contraceptive appliance(3);

"HSC trust" means a Health and Social Care trust established under Article 10 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(4);

"the Act" means the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009(5);

"the Order" means the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972;

"the principal Regulations" means the Charges for Drugs and Appliances Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997(6);

"the Regional Board" means the Regional Health and Social Care Board, established under section 7 of the Act.

Supply, replacement and repair of appliances to out-patients by the Regional Board or HSC trusts

3.–(1) Where an appliance supplied under arrangements made by the Regional Board or a HSC trust is, at the request of the person supplied, of a more expensive type than the standard type, or where an appliance which has been so supplied is repaired under those arrangements, the Regional Board or HSC trust may charge and recover from the person so supplied, or for whom such repair is undertaken, a sum representing the difference between the cost to the Regional Board or HSC trust of supplying or repairing such appliance and the cost to the Regional Board or HSC trust of supplying or repairing an appliance of the type which would normally be supplied.

(2) Where an appliance supplied under arrangements made by the Regional Board or a HSC trust requires to be replaced or repaired, and the Regional Board or HSC trust has reason to believe that such replacement or repair is necessitated by an act or omission of the person supplied ("S") or (if it occurred when S was under sixteen years of age) of S or of the person having charge of S when it occurred, the Regional Board or HSC trust may appoint a person or persons to investigate the matter.

(3) The person or persons so appointed shall make such inquiry into the matter as they think fit, and if in their opinion the circumstances so require or if the person concerned so demands, the inquiry shall take the form of an oral hearing.

(4) The persons holding such inquiry shall report to the Regional Board or the HSC trust who shall determine whether the replacement or repair is necessitated by an act or omission of the person supplied ("S") or (if it occurred when S was under sixteen years of age) of S or of the person having charge of S when it occurred. The Regional Board or HSC trust may, if it thinks fit, delegate the responsibility for determining whether the replacement or repair is necessitated by such an act or omission, to a committee of the Regional Board or the HSC trust.

(5) The Regional Board or the HSC trust may recover from the person supplied ("S"), or (if the act or omission necessitating repairs or replacement occurred when S was under sixteen years of age) the person having charge of S when it occurred, the whole or any part of the cost to the Regional Board or HSC trust of replacement or repair of an appliance determined in the above manner to have been necessitated by an act or omission on the part of S or (if it occurred when S was under sixteen years of age) of S or of the person having charge of S when it occurred.

Revocations and transitional provisions

4.–(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) the Regulations specified in column 1 of the Schedule are revoked to the extent specified in column 3 of that Schedule.

(2) Regulation 9 of the principal Regulations shall continue to apply in respect of an application for a refund in relation to a payment made before 1st April 2010 for a pre-payment certificate, as if these Regulations had not been made.

(3) Regulation 10 of the principal Regulations shall continue to apply in respect of a charge paid under those Regulations before 1st April 2010, by or on behalf of a person who was at the time of payment exempt from the requirement to pay that charge, as if these Regulations had not been made.

Regulation 4(1)

SCHEDULE REGULATIONS REVOKED

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations revoke the Charges for Drugs and Appliances Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 ("the principal Regulations") as amended.

In revoking the principal Regulations, these Regulations abolish charges for drugs and appliances supplied by –

(i) chemists and doctors providing pharmaceutical services, and

(ii) the Regional Board and HSC trusts to out-patients.

However, the Regulations do provide (regulation 3) for the continuation of certain processes in relation to the supply, replacement and repair of appliances where –

(i) an appliance supplied is, at the request of the person supplied, of a more expensive type than the standard type;

(ii) an appliance supplied requires to be replaced or repaired, and there is reason to believe that such replacement or repair is necessitated by an act or omission.

These Regulations provide for the revocation of the principal Regulations and its amending Regulations (regulation 4(1) and the Schedule).

Transitional arrangements are made in respect of pre-payment certificates (where there was an entitlement to a refund under the principal Regulations) and repayment of charges (where a charge was paid under the principal Regulations by or on behalf of a person who was at the time of payment exempt from the requirement to pay that charge) (regulation 4(2) and (3)).