The Act – Overview Duties to notify Section 13 Notifiable diseases: duties on registered medical practitioners
25.This section places a duty on a registered medical practitioner who has reasonable grounds to suspect that a patient has a notifiable disease, to notify the health board of that area in writing not later than 3 days after forming the suspicion. The notification must include the patient’(a)s name, address and postcode, the patient’s occupation, the name, address and postcode of the patient’s place of work or education (if considered relevant by the practitioner), the patient’s sex, the patient’s date of birth, the disease which the patient has and the patient’s NHS identifier. The NHS identifier means the community health index number or, where that is not known, the NHS identification number. Where both are unknown, any other number or indicator used from time to time to identify a patient individually will suffice.
26.A registered medical practitioner who has reasonable grounds to suspect a notifiable disease and who considers that the case is urgent must orally notify the health board as soon as possible. The registered medical practitioner must have regard to the following factors when considering whether a case is urgent or not: the nature of the disease, the ease of transmission of that disease, the patient’s circumstances (such as the patient’s age, sex and state of health), and any guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers.
27.A registered medical practitioner does not need to notify if there are reasonable grounds to believe that another registered medical practitioner has complied with the notification requirement under this section or section 14 in respect of the patient.