Notifiable diseases - overview for emergency clinicians
Notification of specified infectious diseases is a core public-health intervention. Emergency departments (EDs) are frontline settings for recognising cases that require rapid public-health action. Prompt clinical recognition, immediate infection-control measures and timely notification to the local Health Protection Team (HPT) protect contacts, enable outbreak control and fulfil statutory duties.
This section summarises the legal obligations, practical ED workflow, key timeliness and what to include in a notification. It reflects current UK guidance - always check the live GOV.UK pages and your local HPT for updates (schedules amended effective 6 April 2025).
Legal duty and professional responsibilities
- Registered medical practitioners (RMPs) have a statutory duty to notify specified infectious diseases under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations and related public-health legislation.
- Notification is required on clinical suspicion and must not be deferred pending laboratory confirmation.
- Diagnostic laboratories have separate duties to notify certain causative organisms (Schedule 2).
- Clinicians should liaise with microbiology for specimen selection, transport and parallel laboratory reporting.
- Confidential patient information may be shared without consent where required for public-health purposes; document the reason and what was shared.
- Keep written records of every notification: date/time, who was contacted, method and advice received.
- ED induction should include local HPT contact details and the online reporting link.