The Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations place obligations on various persons to disclose information to specified third parties for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, controlling or providing a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection or contamination.

Regulation 2 obliges registered medical practitioners to notify the local authority if a patient they are attending is believed to have a disease listed in Schedule 1 or is otherwise infected or contaminated in a way that may cause significant harm to others. Regulation 3 extends this obligation to cover notification of suspected disease, infection or contamination in a dead body. Regulation 6 obliges the local authority to disclose notifications under regulations 2 or 3 to other specified bodies with a health protection role.

Regulation 4 obliges the operators of diagnostic laboratories to notify the Health Protection Agency (HPA) if they identify a causative agent listed in Schedule 2, or evidence of such an agent, in a human sample. Regulation 5 enables the HPA to approach the person who solicited the laboratory tests for certain information not provided by the operator of the diagnostic laboratory and obliges that person to provide the information where known.

Regulation 7 enables specified documents to be sent electronically where certain conditions are met.

Regulation 8 revokes 2 sets of regulations.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Department of Health, Room 514, Wellington House, 133-155 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8UG and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the OPSI website (www.opsi.gov.uk).