Consultation on Amendments to Health Protection Notification Regulations

The Health Protection Notification Regulations 2010 (HPNR) were introduced to help the government respond effectively and quickly to newly discovered cases of infectious diseases and prevent their spread if they pose such a risk. In the wake of COVID, the Government has been considering adding a number of amendments to the regulations in order to ensure the discovery of infectious diseases leads to an appropriate and effective public health response.

Currently, under the regulations, registered medical practitioners in England are required to notify the relevant local authority or local health protection team if they treat a patient known to have or suspected to have a notifiable disease. While some amendments have been made during the Covid period, a full review of the regulations has not taken place since they were initially published.

As a result, the Department of Health and Social Care has published three proposed amendments and sought views from stakeholders in a 3-month consultation period. The proposed amendments are as follows:

• The inclusion of seven infectious diseases to be added to the list of notifiable diseases included in schedule 1 of the regulations, these being:
  1. Middle East respiratory syndromes (MERS)
  2. Influenza of zoonotic origin
  3. Chickenpox (varicella)
  4. Congenital syphilis
  5. Neonatal herpes
  6. Acute flaccid paralysis or acute flaccid myelitis (AFP or AFM)
  7. Disseminated gonococcal infection

• The inclusion of twelve causative agents to be added to the list of causative agents included in schedule 2 of the regulations, these being:
• 1. Middle East respiratory syndromes coronavirus (MERS)
  2. Non-human influenza A subtypes
  3. Norovirus
  4. Echinococcosis spp
  5. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV)
  6. Toxiplasma (congenital toxoplasmosis)
  7. Trichinellosis spp
  8. Yersinia spp
  9. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
  10. Neisseria gonorrhoeae (from a sterile site)
  11. Treponema pallidum
  12. Neisseria gonorrhoeae (non-sterile site)

• Finally the government proposes an expansion on the current reporting requirements placed on diagnostic laboratories in England that test human samples. Currently diagnostic laboratories must report causative agents to the UK Health Security Agency once they have been detected. The amendment proposal will require them to also report negative and void test results.

The consultation runs until 4^th October 2023. You can view and respond to the consultation online via the GOV.UK website.

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