Under the Public Health Act 2016, all medical and nurse practitioners practising in Westen Australia (WA) are legally required to report the diagnosis of notifiable infectious diseases to the Department of Health. Notifiable infectious diseases include chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, donovanosis, chancroid, HIV and hepatitis A, B and C.
Medical and nurse practitioners must complete the appropriate Department of Health infectious disease notification forms for all patients diagnosed with a notifiable STI or HIV, as soon as possible after confirmed diagnosis.
- All notifiable infectious diseases, except for HIV infection, should be notified on the standard notifiable infectious disease form. There are two versions of the form (metropolitan and rural), one for clinicians in the metropolitan area and the other for clinicians in the non-metropolitan areas. Metropolitan notification forms should be forwarded to the Communicable Disease Control Directorate (CDCD), and rural notification forms should be forwarded to the appropriate local population/public health unit (PHU)
- Additional information (‘enhanced surveillance’) about behavioural, demographic and clinical characteristics is required for cases of some STIs/BBVs (i.e. gonorrhoea, infectious syphilis, hepatitis C, donovanosis). Completion of an enhanced surveillance form satisfies a clinician’s legal requirement to report that notifiable disease.
- HIV infections should be notified using a separate HIV notification form.
- It is important to record Indigenous status on the notification form in order to monitor the burden of disease among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and assist in planning and delivery of services and resources to appropriate communities. The standard question to ask a person about their Indigenous status is: "Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin?"
- Australian national notifiable diseases case definitions for STIs and BBVs can be found on the Australian Department of Health website (external site).
Download infectious disease notification forms here:
Metropolitan notification form (PDF 228KB).
Rural notification form (PDF 228KB).
HIV/AIDS notification form (PDF 112KB).
Hard copy notification forms can be obtained from your local public health unit or the CDCD (Tel: 9388 4852)