STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS.

S.I. No. 865 of 2004 .

INFECTIOUS DISEASES (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2004.

S.I. No. 865 of 2004 .

INFECTIOUS DISEASES (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2004.

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Health and Children, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 5 and 29 of section 34 of the Health Act 1953 ( No. 26 of 1953 ), hereby make the following regulations:

PART 1 -- PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2004.

2. The Regulations shall come into operation on 1 January 2005.

3. In these Regulations--

“Principal Regulations” means the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 ( S.I. No. 390 of 1981 ), as amended by Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 1985 ( S.I. No. 268 of 1985 ), Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 1988 ( S.I. No. 288 of 1988 ), Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 1996 ( S.I. No. 384 of 1996 ), Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 151 of 2000 ), Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 115 of 2003 ), Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 180 of 2003 ) and Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2003 ).

PART 2 -- AMENDMENTS TO THE PRINCIPAL REGULATIONS

4. (1) Regulation 2 of the Principal Regulations, as amended by the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 151 of 2000 ) and the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2003 ), is further amended, as follows:

(i)   by substituting for “case definition” the following:

“case definition” means the set of clinical or microbiological characteristics by which a case of infectious disease is defined, which shall be maintained, updated and circulated by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre of the Health Service Executive;

(ii)  by substituting for “medical officer of health” the following:

“medical officer of health” means an appropriately qualified registered medical practitioner who is an employee of the Health Service Executive and is designated in writing by the Health Service Executive to perform the functions of the Chief Medical Officer and the Medical Officer of Health under the Health Acts 1947-1953”;

(iii)  the insertion after “ “the Minister” means the Minister for Health” of the following:

“Health Service Executive” means the body established under Section 6 of the Health Act 2004 ;

“Health Protection Surveillance Centre” means the unit called the Health Protection Surveillance Centre of the Health Service Executive;

(iv)  the deletion of the definition of the “National Disease Surveillance Centre”;

(v)  the deletion of the definition of the “Director of the National Disease Surveillance Centre”.

(2) Regulation 14 of the Principal Regulations, as amended by the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 1996 ( S.I. No. 384 of 1996 ) and the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2003 ), is further amended by substituting for paragraph (3)(a) and paragraph (3)(b) the following:

“(3)(a) A medical practitioner and a clinical director of a diagnostic laboratory shall have regard to the case definitions for infectious diseases circulated by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

(b) A medical practitioner and a clinical director of a diagnostic laboratory shall notify to the medical officer of health any unusual clusters or changing patterns of any illness, and individual cases thereof, that may be of public health concern. The medical officer of health shall in turn notify the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.”

(3) Regulation 15(2) of the Principal Regulations, as amended by the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2003 ), is further amended by substituting for paragraph (2)(b) the following:

“(2)(b) A medical practitioner and a clinical director of a diagnostic laboratory shall notify to the medical officer of health any unusual clusters or changing patterns of any illness, and individual cases thereof, within the infectious disease hospital or infectious disease unit, that may be of public health concern. The medical officer of health shall in turn notify the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.”

(4) Regulation 16 of the Principal Regulations, as amended by the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2003 ), is further amended by substituting the following for the existing regulation:

“A registrar of births and deaths shall send to a medical officer of health such returns of deaths from infectious diseases as may be specified by the Minister. Every medical officer of health shall in turn forward such returns to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.”

(5) Regulation 18 of the Principal Regulations, as amended by the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 151 of 2000 ) and the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2003 ), is further amended by substituting the following for the existing regulation:

“(1) A medical officer of health shall furnish to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre by the Wednesday of each week a return of the cases of infectious diseases notified to him or her in the week ending on the previous Saturday. This return may be provided electronically.

(2) A medical officer of health shall furnish to the Minister or to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre as soon as possible a detailed report on each case of such infectious disease as the Minister or the Health Protection Surveillance Centre may specify from time to time.

(3) A standard form for the purpose of returning infectious diseases shall be compiled and circulated by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.”

(6) Article 20(1) of the Principal Regulations, as amended by the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 151 of 2000 ), is hereby further amended by substituting the following for the existing text:

(1) “The Health Service Executive shall keep such records in respect of each functional area of the Executive as may be directed by the Minister or as required by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre from time to time in relation to the exercise of the Executive's powers and the performance of its duties under these Regulations.”

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This Instrument provides for the notification of infectious diseases to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre of the Health Service Executive rather than to the National Disease Surveillance Centre. It also updates the definition of “medical officer of health”.