Infectious Disease (Notification) Act 1889
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1889 c. 72 |
| Year | 1889 |
Infectious Disease (Notification) Act, 1889
(52 & 53 Vict.) CHAPTER 72.
An Act to provide for the Notification of Infectious Disease to Local Authorities.
[30th August 1889]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theInfectious Disease (Notification) Act, 1889.
2 Extent of Act.
2. This Act shall extend—
3 Notification of infectious disease.
(1)3.—(1.) Where an inmate of any building used for human habitation within a district to which this Act extends is suffering from an infectious disease to which this Act applies, then, unless such building is a hospital in which persons suffering from an infectious disease are received, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—
(a .) the head of the family to which such inmate (in this Act referred to as the patient) belongs, and in his default the nearest relatives of the patient present in the building or being in attendance on the patient, and in default of such relatives every person in charge of or in attendance on the patient, and in default of any such person the occupier of the building shall, as soon as he becomes aware that the patient is suffering from an infectious disease to which this Act applies, send notice thereof to the medical officer of health of the district:
(b .) every medical practitioner attending on or called in to visit the patient shall forthwith, on becoming aware that the patient is suffering from an infectious disease to which this Act applies, send to the medical officer of health for the district a certificate stating the name of the patient, the situation of the building, and the infectious disease from which, in the opinion of such medical practitioner, the patient is suffering.
(2) (2.) Every person required by this section to give a notice or certificate who fails to give the same, shall be liable on summary conviction in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceeding forty shillings;
Provided that if a person is not required to give notice in the first instance, but only in default of some other person, he shall not be liable to any fine if he satisfies the court that he had reasonable cause to suppose that the notice had been duly given.
4 As to forms and case of several medical practitioners.
(1)4.—(1.) The Local Government Board may from time to time prescribe forms for the purpose of certificates under this Act, and any forms so prescribed shall be used in all cases to which they apply.
(2) (2.) The local authority shall gratuitously supply forms of certificate to any medical practitioner residing or practising in their district who applies for the same, and shall pay to every medical practitioner for each certificate duly sent by him in accordance with this Act a fee of two shillings and sixpence if the case occurs in his private practice, and of one shilling if the case occurs in his practice as medical officer of any public body or institution.
(3) (3.) Where in any district of a local authority there are two or more medical officers of health of such authority a certificate under this Act shall be given to such one of those officers as has charge of the area in which is the patient referred to in the certificate, or to such other of those officers as the local authority may from time to time direct.
5 Adoption of Act in urban or rural district.
(1)5.—(1.) The local authority of any urban, rural, or port sanitary district may adopt this Act by a resolution passed at a meeting of such authority; and fourteen clear days at least before such meeting special notice of the meeting, and of the intention to propose such resolution, shall be given to every member of the local authority, and the notice shall be deemed to have been duly given to a member if it is either:
(a ) given in the mode in which notices to attend meetings of the local authority are usually given, or
(b ) where there is no such mode, then signed by the clerk of the local authority and delivered to the member or left at his usual or last known place of abode in England, or forwarded by post in a prepaid letter addressed to the member at his usual or last known place of abode in in England.
(2) (2.) A resolution adopting this Act shall be published by advertisement in a local newspaper, and by handbills, and otherwise in such manner as the local authority think sufficient for giving notice thereof to all persons interested, and shall come into operation at such time, not less than one month after the first publication of the advertisement of the resolution as the local authority may fix, and upon its coming into operation this Act shall extend to the district.
(3) (3.) A copy of the resolution shall be sent to the Local Government Board when it is published.
6 Definition of infectious disease.
6. In this Act the expression ‘infectious disease to which this Act applies’ means any of the following diseases, namely, small-pox, cholera, diphtheria, membranous croup, erysipelas, the disease known as scarlatina or scarlet fever, and the fevers known by any of the following names, typhus, typhoid, enteric, relapsing, continued, or puerperal, and includes as respects any particular district any infectious disease to which this Act has been applied by the local authority of the district in manner provided by this Act.
7 Power to local authority to extend definition of infectious disease.
(1)7.—(1.) The local authority of any district to which this Act extends may, from time to time, by a resolution passed at a meeting of such authority where the like special notice of the meeting and of the intention to propose the resolution has been given as is required in the case of a meeting held for adopting this Act, order that this Act shall apply in their district to any infectious disease other than a disease specifically mentioned in this Act.
(2) (2.) Any such order may be permanent or temporary, and, if temporary, the period during which it is to continue in force shall be specified therein, and any such order may be revoked or varied by the local authority which made the same.
(3) (3.) An order under this section and the revocation and variation of any such order shall not be of any validity until approved by the Local Government Board.
(4) (4.) When it is so approved, the local authority shall give public notice thereof by advertisement in a local newspaper and by handbills, and otherwise in such manner as the...
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