Page updated 30 April 2007
Statutory Notifiable Diseases, 1988
Diseases Included on the List
The diseases listed below require Notification to the proper authorities. The aim of Notification is to identify infection risks and institute appropriate control measures.
IF YOU ADMIT A PATIENT KNOWN TO HAVE ANY OF THESE DISEASES, PLEASE INFORM THE INFECTION CONTROL TEAM AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY.
If a patient is admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of, or suspected of having, any of the diseases listed below, the clinician in charge has a legal responsibility to notify the disease to the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (Proper Officer). This duty is normally carried out by the junior medical staff but is the responsibility of the doctor in charge of the patient.
Notification can be done by sending one of the forms overleaf to the Microbiology Department or by informing them of the patient details by telephone. The Infection Control Team takes the responsibility for formal Notification to the Health District where the patient lives. In an emergency, a microbiologist or infection control nurse will telephone the Proper Officer (usually a Consultant in Communicable Disease Control or an Environmental Health Officer) on duty for that district. This single path of referral will ensure that the appropriate action is taken as quickly as possible.
Official Notification Books are also kept in some hospitals and on certain wards where many patients suffering from infectious diseases are admitted, eg. paediatric wards and Patrick Manson Infectious Disease Unit. Notification of diseases on these wards can therefore be made directly, but the appropriate department of Microbiology and Chest Health Visitor (for tuberculosis only) must be informed by telephone so that records are complete.
| Anthrax | Plague |
| Cholera | Poliomyelitis (acute) |
| Diphtheria | Rabies |
| Dysentery | Relapsing fever |
| Encephalitis (acute) | Rubella |
| Food poisoning | Scarlet fever |
| Leprosy | Smallpox |
| Leptospirosis | Tetanus |
| Malaria | Tuberculosis |
| Measles | Typhoid |
| Meningitis (acute) | Typhus fever |
| Meningococcal septicaemia | Viral Haemorrhagic fever |
| Mumps | *Viral Hepatitis("Infectious Jaundice") |
| Ophthalmia neonatorium | Whooping cough |
| Paratyphoid fever | Yellow fever |
 |
 |