The National Health Service Act 2006 consolidates various previous legislative provisions relating to the NHS and fulfils a commitment given in 2001 so to do. Section 129(2)(c)(ii), and the equivalent measure for Wales, set out the conditions under which an application to provide NHS pharmaceutical services may be granted. This is known as the control of entry test.
It states that an application will only be granted if it is necessary or expedient in order to secure the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services locally. The previous NHS Act 1977 used the terms necessary or desirable. The same terminology was originally adopted in the drafts of the new NHS Act published on the Department’s website in February and May 2006.
Subsequently, the term expedient was used for the Bill as introduced to Parliament in June 2006. This term was adopted in preference to the term desirable to update the language used in, and to ensure legislative consistency within, the new Act. The two terms are interchangeable in meaning. Unless the contrary intention is shown, a consolidation Act is presumed to be a straight consolidation and does not change the law.
Therefore, as there is no change in the meaning, the new Act, once it comes into force, will not change nor have any effect on the basis on which primary care trusts and health boards are to continue to decide NHS pharmaceutical applications. They will continue to apply the necessary or desirable criteria as set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2005 as amended, and the equivalent provisions in Wales.