Providers of NHS Primary Medical Services


Providers of NHS primary medical services that provide regulated activities must be registered with us from 1 April 2012. This includes General Practitioner (GP) practices and out-of-hours services.

The new registration system will bring all providers of health and adult social care under a single set of essential standards of quality and safety for the first time.

This means that people can expect services to meet the same essential standards across the care sector that are protecting their safety and respecting their dignity and rights.

Find out general information about our new registration system

This section relates to registration for primary medical services providers. Any updates will be published in this section.

Who needs to register?

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, most providers of NHS primary medical services that provide regulated activities must be registered with us from 1 April 2012 if these are the main or only services they provide; others will need to be registered before this date.

Read our guidance on the scope of registration that sets out the regulated activities that will need to be included in your registration.

For the purposes of registration, NHS primary medical services are defined as those which are contracted by a Primary Care Trust (PCT) using one of following contracts:

  • General Medical Services (GMS)
  • Personal Medical Services (PMS)
  • Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS)
  • NHS Act 2006 Section 3 (contracts with the Secretary of State)

Examples of primary medical services include:

  • GP practices
  • Out-of-hours services
  • Walk-in centres or poly-system services where they are provided under one of the above contracts.

These providers may be independent contractors, commercial or voluntary providers, social enterprises or public sector providers.

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When do you need to register?

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 includes some exemptions for providers of NHS primary medical services.

Different primary medical services exemptions apply in different circumstances. These exemptions can be complicated for more complex providers. If you are not sure how an exemption applies to your organisation, you can:

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Find out when you need to register

NHS GP Practices

1 April 2012

If you are a GP practice (including an individual, partnership, limited liability company or GP cooperative) you will need to be registered from 1 April 2012 if:

  • You only provide NHS primary medical services contracted by a Primary Care Trust; this is your sole purpose.
  • You provide NHS primary medical services as well as some other services, and the NHS primary medical services are your main purpose.
  • The ‘other’ services you provide could be private or NHS services that do not fall under one of the NHS primary medical services contracts.

For example, a GP practice that also runs a private clinic once a week will need to be registered from 1 April 2012, because the NHS primary medical services contracted by the Primary Care Trust is the main purpose of what they do.

Please note: If you are GP practice that is part of a cooperative or federation (for example, to provide out-of-hours services), your individual practice will need to be registered, as well as the cooperative or federation if it is a separate legal entity.

NHS Trusts or Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)

1 April 2010

If you are an NHS trust or a PCT (provider) that directly provides primary medical services, these should have been included in your registration application submitted in January and registration will apply from 1 April 2010. This will include, for example, any directly provided out-of-hours services.

See our page on NHS registration

Corporate Organisations

To determine when your NHS primary medical services will need to be registered, you will need to consider what other services you provide alongside these.

1 October 2010

If you are an organisation that provides some NHS primary medical services but your main purpose is to provide other services, such as private healthcare, social care or NHS acute services, you will need to be registered for all of your services from 1 October 2010.

For example, this would include:

  • A corporate organisation whose main purpose is to run a number of care homes, but also runs an out-of-hours service for a Primary Care Trust; or
  • An independent healthcare company that runs a number of private hospitals or treatment centres, and also holds an NHS primary medical services contract to run an NHS walk-in centre.

1 April 2012

If your only or main purpose is to provide NHS primary medical services:

  • You will need to be registered for any ‘non-medical’ services that you provide from 1 October 2010. ‘Non-medical’ services are any services that are not led by a healthcare professional, such as a care home; and
  • You will need to be registered for your NHS primary medical services and any ‘other’ medical services that you provide from 1 April 2012.

The ‘other’ services you provide could be private or NHS services that do not fall under one of the NHS primary medical services contracts.

Private GPs

1 April 2012

If you are a general practitioner (GP) who mainly does private work and also provides some NHS primary medical services:

  • You will need to be registered for the NHS primary medical services that you provide from 1 April 2012

If, as part of your private work, you provide any services that are listed in Schedule 2, paragraph 5 of Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 in the same premises as your NHS primary medical service, you must be registered for these services from 1 April 2012.

If you undertake private work in different premises from your NHS primary medical services you should read our guidance on the scope of registration to find out if and when these need to be registered.

Developing registration for primary medical care providers

Principles and methods

The principles and methods of registration in 2012 will be very similar to registration for all other providers. We are currently developing the details of the registration and compliance monitoring processes for providers of primary medical services.

Key principles include:

  • Placing the views of people at the centre of the system and focusing on outcomes for people who use services - the experience they have as a result of the care they receive - by listening to people, their families and carers.
  • Developing our guidance and methods with key stakeholders including people who use services, providers, Primary Care Trusts and professional and expert bodies.
  • Using timely, relevant and reliable information about the quality of services and working with others to reduce duplication and unnecessary regulatory burden.

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Timetable for registration

We are in the early stages of developing the registration model for NHS primary medical services providers and are engaging with our key stakeholders to help shape our work.

In the coming months, we will communicate specific timeframes for registration, but have highlighted some key dates below.

  • From October 2011 onwards: Registration applications open
  • From 1 April 2012: All providers of NHS primary medical services must be registered with us
  • April 2012 onwards: Compliance monitoring commences

Updates will be communicated on this website and will be sent to providers as registration approaches.

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Fees

All providers of primary medical services will be required to pay a registration fee. We will fully consult before introducing any fees and take account of views expressed. We will hold a consultation on our fees scheme that will give providers from each sector the opportunity to comment on our proposal.

The interim fees scheme for NHS trusts in 2010/ 2011, and the fees scheme for independent healthcare providers under the old system of registration (the Care Standards Act 2000) do not provide a blueprint for future fees.

Read more about our overall approach to fees and consultations

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What you can be doing now to prepare for registration

To prepare for registration, providers of primary medical services can:

  • Read the latest Department of Health regulations
  • Read our Guidance about compliance published in March 2010
  • Check your own internal reporting and audit systems
  • Consider what evidence you already hold and what you need to create
  • Consider evidence on outcomes
  • Be aware of activities in other sectors as they come into the new registration system
  • Check our website for the latest information on registration