Office of Public Sector Information
SCHEDULE 1 continued PART 8
51.—(1) The contractor shall at all times hold adequate—
(a) insurance against liability arising from negligent performance of clinical services under the contract; and
(b) public liability insurance in relation to liabilities to third parties arising under or in connection with the contract which are not covered by the insurance referred to in (a).
(2) In this paragraph—
(a) “insurance” means a contract of insurance or other arrangement made for the purpose of indemnifying the contractor; and
(b) a contractor shall be regarded as holding insurance in relation to any of its employees if it is held by that employee in connection with clinical services which that employee provides under the contract.
52.—(1) The contractor shall keep a register of gifts which are given to any of the persons specified in sub-paragraph (2) by or on behalf of—
(a) a patient;
(b) a relative of a patient; or
(c) any person who provides or wishes to provide services to the contractor or its patients in connection with the contract,
and have, in its reasonable opinion, an individual value of more than £100.00.
(2) The persons referred to in sub-paragraph (1) are—
(a) the contractor;
(b) where the contract is with two or more individuals practising in partnership, any partner;
(c) where the contract is with a corporate body, a director, chief executive or secretary of that body;
(d) any person employed by the contractor for the purposes of the contract;
(e) any ophthalmic practitioner engaged by the contractor for the purposes of the contract;
(f) any spouse or civil partner of a contractor (where the contractor is an individual) or of a person specified in paragraphs (b) to (e); or
(g) any person whose relationship with the contractor (where the contractor is an individual) or with a person specified in paragraphs (b) to (e) has the characteristics of the relationship between husband and wife or civil partners.
(3) Sub-paragraph (1) does not require a gift to be registered where—
(a) there are reasonable grounds for believing that the gift is unconnected with services provided or to be provided by the contractor;
(b) the contractor is not aware of the gift; or
(c) in a case falling within sub-paragraph (1)(c), the contractor is not aware that the donor wishes to provide services to the contractor.
(4) The contractor shall take reasonable steps to ensure that it is informed of gifts which fall within sub-paragraph (1) and which are given to any of the persons specified in sub-paragraph (2)(b) to (2)(g).
(5) The register referred to in sub-paragraph (1) shall include the following information—
(a) the name of the donor;
(b) in a case where the donor is a patient, the patient’s National Health Service number or, if the number is not known, his address;
(c) in any other case, the address of the donor;
(d) the nature of the gift;
(e) the estimated value of the gift; and
(f) the name of the person or persons who received the gift.
(6) The contractor shall make the register available to the PCT on request.
53. The contractor shall—
(a) comply with all relevant legislation; and
(b) have regard to all relevant guidance issued by the PCT, the relevant Strategic Health Authority or the Secretary of State.
54. The contract shall not create any right enforceable by any person not a party to it.
55.—(1) In addition to any other requirement that may relate to the signing of documents whether in these Regulations or otherwise, the contractor shall ensure such documents include—
(a) the name of anyone who signed the documents;
(b) if he is a member of a clinical profession, that fact, identifying the profession; and
(c) the name of the contractor on whose behalf it is signed.
(2) The reference to documents in sub-paragraph (1) include—
(a) forms that are required to be completed as a consequence of these Regulations, where such forms require a signature;
(b) any clinical document.
Regulation 19
1. A contract shall contain all the terms required under Schedule 1, except—
(a) that any reference to “mandatory services” in Schedule 1 shall be replaced by “additional services”, and
(b) in so far as any such term is added to, removed or varied by the provisions of this Schedule, in which case the contract shall contain the term as so added, removed or varied,
and in this Schedule any reference to a contract is to a contract for the provision of additional services and any reference to a contractor is to a person who has contracted to provide such services.
2. In addition to complying with the requirements of paragraph 1 of Schedule 1, the contractor shall record on the sight test form the reason given by the patient, or on his behalf, for—
(a) not being able to leave home unaccompanied; or
(b) if the reason the patient is entitled to the provision of mobile services is other than that in (a), that reason.
3. The contractor shall—
(a) compile a document (in this paragraph and in Schedule 4 called “patient information leaflet”) which shall include the information specified in Schedule 4;
(b) review its patient information leaflet at least once in every period of 12 months and make any amendments necessary to maintain its accuracy; and
(c) make available a copy of the leaflet, and any subsequent updates, to its patients and prospective patients.
4. In the application of paragraphs 19 and 21 of Schedule 1 to a contract, any reference to “practise premises” shall be varied to apply to the place where the additional services are being provided.
5.—(1) A contractor shall provide such facilities and equipment as are necessary to enable it to properly perform mobile services, and in addition to the right to inspect under paragraph 4, a contractor shall allow an authorised officer of the PCT to inspect the facilities and equipment that it uses either—
(a) during an inspection under paragraph 4; or
(b) subject to the conditions in sub-paragraph (2), at any reasonable time.
(2) The conditions referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b) are that—
(a) reasonable notice of the intended inspection has been given;
(b) written evidence of the authority of the person seeking entry is produced to the contractor on request; and
(c) entry is not made to any premises or part of the premises used as residential accommodation without the consent of the resident.
6.—(1) A contractor may provide additional services only in accordance with sub-paragraph (2), after giving notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (3).
(2) The contractor may only provide additional services if—
(a) an eligible person has requested the contractor to provide those services to him, or, where the eligible person is incapable of making such a request, a relative of his, a primary carer of that eligible person or a duly authorised person has made such a request; and
(b) subject to sub-paragraphs (5), (6) and (7), it has notified the PCT in accordance with sub-paragraphs (3) and, if applicable, (4) and the PCT has not informed the contractor that it is not content with the changes notified under sub-paragraph (4).
(3) The contractor shall notify the PCT of its intention to provide additional services—
(a) where they are to be provided to 3 or more eligible persons at a day centre or residential centre, at least 3 weeks and not more than 8 weeks in advance of that provision; or
(b) in any other case, not more than 8 weeks, but not less then 48 hours (except that no part of a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday shall count towards that period of 48 hours) before that provision,
identifying the persons to whom the services are to be provided and specifying the date and approximate time when it will provide them.
(4) If the contractor wishes to change any of the matters of which it has notified the PCT under sub-paragraph (3), it must so notify the PCT at least 48 hours (except that no part of a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday shall count towards that period) before—
(a) if it wishes to provide additional services to further or different persons, that provision;
(b) if it wishes to change the date or time of the provision of those services, both—
(i) the previously notified date of that provision, and
(ii) if the notification is to change the date, the date so notified.
(5) If the contractor is unable to attend the place at which it has notified the PCT that it would be attending, it may instead, on that day and at that approximate time, provide additional services at another location, provided that the PCT notifies the contractor that the PCT agrees to that.
(6) In a case to which paragraph (5) applies the contractor may attend and provide additional services at the originally notified place at such time as the PCT shall agree.
(7) In a case where circumstances have arisen whereby it was not possible to notify in accordance with sub-paragraph (4)(a), the contractor may provide additional services to up to 3 other eligible persons at the previously notified time and place.
7. The contractor shall not—
(a) offer any inducement (except any discount or special offer available to patients) to use the additional services provided by the contractor and in particular no such inducement shall be offered by it, directly or indirectly, to the proprietor, manager or staff of a residential home or day centre to secure that the contractor is asked or permitted to provide additional services at that home or centre; or
(b) seek to mislead any person about the availability, quality and extent of additional services under the contract.
The General Ophthalmic Services Contracts Regulations 2008