Responsibility for notification #
ACT law sets out a number of specific circumstances where failure to make a public health notification may attract a criminal penalty. These may be in addition to circumstances where notification is required by good medical or clinical practice or under policy.
These specific circumstances are set out in the Public Health Act 1997 (ACT) and include:
- where a medical or nurse practitioner has reasonable grounds to believe that a patient has, or may have, HIV: s 102A(1) (maximum penalty: 5 penalty units)
- where a medical practitioner has reasonable grounds to believe that a deceased person had, or may have had, HIV at the time of death and the person was a patient of the medical practitioner immediately prior to death, or was examined by the medical practitioner after death: s 102A(2) maximum penalty: 5 penalty units)
- where a pathologist has tested a specimen taken from a person for any reason and the test indicates the person has, or may have, HIV (note: the notification must be made by the pathologist, the person in charge of the laboratory at which the test was performed and the pathologist’s employer if not a hospital): s 103 (maximum penalty: 5 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months or both)
- where a person is in charge of any hospital in which any patient has, or may have, HIV: s 104 (maximum penalty: 25 penalty units)
- where a counsellor who has counselled a person believes on reasonable grounds that the person has, or may have, HIV: s 105(1) (maximum penalty: 25 penalty units)
- where a person who is responsible for the care, support, or education of someone else believes on reasonable grounds that the person for whom they are responsible has HIV: s 105(2) (maximum penalty: 25 penalty units).
In all of the above circumstances, the persons indicated must notify the chief health officer (CHO) of the ACT in accordance with the Public Health (Reporting of Notifiable Conditions) Code of Practice 2022 (No 2) (ACT). Failure to notify carries a penalty of a fine (and/or imprisonment in the case of s 103, unless there is a reasonable excuse). In the case of a prosecution under s 102A, it is a defence if the person can prove that they believed on reasonable grounds that the CHO had already been notified about the condition of the patient or dead person (s 102A(4)).
Mode of notification #
A written notification must be provided within 5 days of diagnosis using the Report of notifiable condition or related death form, which may be submitted by post or fax. The notifier may provide only the first 2 letters of the family and given names, as well as the postcode of residence for the individual. This is in alignment with current practice in other jurisdictions and supports voluntary engagement in testing (see Public Health (Reporting of Notifiable Conditions) Code of Practice 2022 (No 2) (ACT)).
