Under s 133 of the Western Australian Public Health Act 2016 (WA), an authorised officer may require an HIV-positive patient to provide information about any circumstances in which the HIV-positive person may have acquired, or exposed another person to, the disease, and if the officer reasonably believes that the other person is a contact of the patient, the patient will be required to give the following information of the other person: the name, residential address, telephone number, date of birth and gender. Further, the Western Australian Government resource, the Silver book states that ‘[c]ontact tracing is an essential part of the clinical management of patients diagnosed with STIs and blood-borne infections’. Contact tracing should be conducted voluntarily and without coercion. When a patient refuses to notify or permit notification of contacts, assistance is available from local public health units (PHU). According to the Silver book, a strategy for a short-term management plan should be agreed between the primary healthcare provider and the PHU.
