Notifiable Diseases and Hazardous Substance Injuries

Notification allows public health services to collect, analyse and act on information to reduce the risk of disease in the public. Notifications allow us to:

• Contact trace people to provide advice, prophylaxis, immunisation, isolation or quarantine
• Identify environmental health issues e.g. contaminated drinking water
• Identify disease sources e.g. foodborne illness
• Detect and manage outbreaks
• Monitor immunisation efficacy
• Provide information to advocate for improved public health at a local or national level 

• Any health practitioner involved in the case is legally required to notify
• It is an offence under the Health Act not to notify

Check if the disease requires urgent or non-urgent notification (see the tables below)

Urgent disease notifications:

• Please notify on clinical suspicion.
• During working hours, phone Toi Te Ora Public Health on 0800 221 555
• After hours all urgent notifications must be phoned to the on-call Medical Officer of Health via the hospital switchboard
• Overnight notifications can be made in exceptional circumstances if you think immediate public health action or intervention is required.

Non-urgent disease notifications:

• Complete the notification form via Best Practice e-referral OR email the notification form to CD.Admin@bopdhb.govt.nz. 

Make sure you have relevant case details available when calling, including:

• Symptoms and signs of the illness
• Results of diagnostic tests if relevant
• Occupation, and place of work, school, or preschool
• Date of illness onset
• If known, contacts of an infectious case – especially vulnerable people
• Vaccination status of the index case if relevant
• If known, suspected source of infection (e.g. functions attended, contact with another case).
• Recent countries visited and date of arrival in New Zealand if relevant
• Whether the patient has been informed that they have, or may have, a notifiable disease