Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984

11 Cases of notifiable disease and food poisoning to be reported. E+W

(1)If a registered medical practitioner becomes aware, or suspects, that a patient whom he is attending within the district of a local authority is suffering from a notifiable disease or from food poisoning, he shall, unless he believes, and has reasonable grounds for believing, that some other registered medical practitioner has complied with this subsection with respect to the patient, forthwith send to the proper officer of the local authority for that district a certificate stating—

(a)the name, age and sex of the patient and the address of the premises where the patient is,

(b)the disease, or, as the case may be, particulars of the poisoning from which the patient is, or is suspected to be, suffering and the date, or approximate date, of its onset, and

(c)if the premises are a hospital, the day on which the patient was admitted, the address of the premises from which he came there and whether or not, in the opinion of the person giving the certificate, the disease or poisoning from which the patient is, or is suspected to be, suffering was contracted in the hospital.

(2)A local authority shall, upon application, supply forms of certificate for use under this section free of charge to any registered medical practitioner practising in their district.

(3)The officer who receives the certificate shall, on the day of its receipt (if possible) and in any case within 48 hours after its receipt, send a copy—

(a)to the [F1Health Authority within whose area] are situated the premises whose address is specified in the certificate in accordance with subsection (1)(a) above, and

(b)if the certificate is given with respect to a patient in a hospital who came there from premises outside the district of the local authority within whose district the hospital is situated and the certificate states that the patient did not contract the disease or the poisoning in the hospital—

(i)to the proper officer of the local authority for the district within which the premises from which the patient came are situated, and

(ii)to the [F2Health Authority for the area] in which those premises are situated, if [F2that Health Authority are] not responsible for the administration of the hospital, and

(iii)to the proper officer of the relevant port health authority, if those premises were a ship or hovercraft situated within the port health district for which that authority is constituted.

(4)A person who fails to comply with an obligation imposed on him by subsection (1) above shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale.

(5)In this section, “hospital” means any institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness, any maternity home and any institution for the reception and treatment of persons during convalescence or persons requiring medical rehabilitation, and “illness” includes mental disorder within the meaning of the M1Mental Health Act 1983 and any injury or disability requiring medical, surgical or dental treatment or nursing.