Citation, commencement, extent and application

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Online National Health Service Trust (Establishment) Order 2026 and comes into force on 1st June 2026.

(2) This Order extends to England and Wales.

(3) This Order applies in relation to England only(3).

Interpretation

2. In this Order—

“ Care Quality Commission ” means the body established by section 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 ( 4 );

“ establishment date ” means the date on which the trust is established under article 3;

“ operational date ” means the date specified in article 6(1);

“ the trust ” means the National Health Service trust established by article 3.

Establishment and name of the trust

3. There is established on 1st June 2026, a National Health Service trust which is called the Online National Health Service Trust.

Functions of the trust

4. The trust’s functions are to provide goods and services for the purposes of the health service.

Directors of the trust

5. The trust shall have, in addition to the chairman, 5 executive directors and 6 non-executive directors.

Operational date and accounting date of the trust

6.—(1) The date specified as the operational date of the trust for the purposes of paragraph 5(5) of Schedule 4 to the National Health Service Act 2006 is 1st February 2027.

(2) The accounting date of the trust is 31st March.

Limited functions before operational date

7. Between the establishment date and the operational date the trust has the functions—

(a)of entering into NHS contracts;

(b)of entering into other contracts including contracts of employment;

(c)of preparing to register with the Care Quality Commission; and

(d)of doing such things as are reasonably necessary to enable it to begin to operate satisfactorily with effect from the operational date.