The Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic) directs that:

•  If a registered medical practitioner has reasonable grounds to believe that a patient has, or may have a notifiable disease or infectious condition, or died with a notifiable disease or infectious condition, the practitioner must notify the Secretary (see definitions) of the notification details;
•  A health service must implement processes to ensure that any registered medical practitioner employed or engaged by or performing work at the health services complies with these notification requirements.

The Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2008 (Vic) provide further direction regarding the reporting of notifiable diseases and infectious conditions

Notifiable diseases and infectious conditions will be reported to the Secretary in accordance with the relevant legislation. Both medical practitioners and persons in charge of pathology services are required to report notifiable diseases and infectious conditions.

Secretary means the head of the Department of Health and Human Services

Notifiable conditions are specified in Schedule 3 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 (the regulations). Details can be found at <https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/notify-condition-now>

HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Responsibility All medical practitioners responsible for patient care, where a diagnosis of a notifiable condition has been made.

The doctor who has ordered the test identifying a notifiable condition is responsible for reporting to the Secretary.  This responsibility may be delegated to another member of the treating medical team. 

Each clinical team/department needs to have their own processes in place for the checking of results and the reporting of notifiable conditions.

Restrictions

Information provided to the Secretary must be restricted to that allowed in the Act.  Any additional information provided may represent a breach of patient confidentiality.  Advice should be sought from Medicolegal at BHS before providing any additional information.

• The Pathology Services which performs a test, the results of which indicate that a patient has a notifiable disease, is responsible for notifying the Secretary of that result, independent of the medical practitioner notification
• The Pathology Service which performs a test, the results of which detect a notifiable microorganism in food, is responsible for notifying the Secretary of that result. Medical practitioner notification is not required.
• The ordering of HIV tests by medical practitioners is covered by the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic), and this legislation clearly outlines the requirements on the medical practitioner when performing these tests. Please see "References" for further details.
• Medical practitioners are required to comply with any direction or requirement made under authorisation by the Chief Health Officer.  Any request for information beyond that of the reporting of notifiable conditions, should be discussed with Medicolegal at BHS wherever possible before providing that information.
• Medical practitioners must not give false or misleading information to the Secretary, or an authorised agent of the Chief Health Officer.
• Any record required to be kept in accordance with the Act, must not be destroyed or damaged

If a medical practitioner has reasonable grounds to believe that a patient:

(a) has, or may have, a notifiable condition; or

(b) has, or may have, died with a notifiable condition;

then the practitioner must notify the Department of Health and Human Services:

(c) the timing and details of reporting are spcified in Schedule 3 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 (the regulations).

Urgent conditions require notification to the Department by telephone on 1300 651160 (24/7) upon initial diagnosis or clinical suspicion (presumptive or confirmed) as soon as practicable and within 24 hours.

Routine conditions require written notification to the Department upon initial diagnosis or clinical suspicion (presumptive or confirmed) within five days using either the secure online notification forms or the downloadable forms, all found at <https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/notify-condition-now>

Written notification must include:

• case information, being the patient's family and given name, sex, date of birth and address (note, the special rules in the next dot point apply in respect of certain sexually transmitted diseases). Medicare number or other healthcare identifier must be provided for the patient for identified conditions;
• for certain sexually transmitted conditions (including chlamydia, donovanosis, gonnococcal infeciton, HIV and syphilis), only the first two letters of the patient's family and given name and their residential postcode;
• risk factor information, and
• information about the reporting practitioner, including name, address and contact details of the practitioner and health service, and the Medicare provider number or AHPRA registration number of the requesting medical practitioner.

Anaphylaxis notification:

Under section 130B of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic, the Health Services must notify the Department of Health and Human Services of suspected cases of anaphylaxis.

If a registered medical practitioner engaged by the Health Service has reasonable grounds to believe that a person presenting for treatment at the Health Service hasd anaphylaxis, then the Health Service must notify the Department electronically through the Department's website at <https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/notify-condition-now>:

(a) immediately if the suspected cause of anaphylaxis is consumption of packaged food; or

(b) in any other case, within five days of the initial diagnosis of anaphylaxis.

The notification must include:

• case information, such as name, date of birth, sex and address;
• clinical information, such as mortality and morbidity details, date of presentation and other allergy history;
• details of the Health Service, including name and address, contact details and the details of the practitioner who formed the belief; and
• 1 of 9 specified causes of anaphylaxis (which include "other" or "unknown").

Privacy considerations:

Commonwealth and State privacy legislation does not negate the requirement to notify the specified conditions or to provide the information requested on these forms.

Medical practitioners have a responsibility to inform their patients that their information is being provided to the Department and that the Department may contact them for further information about their illness.

Patients are unable to refuse to allow disclosure of this information to the Department.

Fact sheets on Protecting Patient Privacy are available from the Department's website at <https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/protecting-patient-privacy>