Useful information about working in Public Health Service
National Public Health Service – Northern Region
Who are we?
The National Public Health Service Northern Region works across Auckland and Northland as the main health protection, disease prevention and health promotion agency. Through its work, the service commits to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Reducing Health Inequities. Our Auckland-based service is located at the Greenlane Clinical Centre (Level 2, Building 15).
Our Contacts
What we can do for you
NPHS Northern Region can provide information and advice on public and population health issues, such as:
Control of notifiable infectious diseases in the community (see below), including regulatory options
Environmental health, including hazardous substances
Health promotion programmes which need a community or population focus and, in some instances, a regulatory response
What we need from you: The importance of prompt notification
Notification of suspected or confirmed cases of notifiable diseases (listed below) is a key part of detecting and controlling the spread of disease in the Auckland population.
The NPHS Northern Region website includes information on disease notification, exclusion criteria, incubation, and infectious periods, see Notifiable diseases | National Public Health Service - Northern Region
NPHS Northern Region staff will contact clinical staff following direct laboratory notifications of many (but not all) notifiable diseases to obtain clinical information. If public health follow-up is required, we ask that you inform the patient of the diagnosis, any necessary immediate public health measures, and that NPHS Northern Region staff may contact the patient directly.
Investigation of individual cases and outbreaks can involve:
Identification of the causative agents and source of exposure
Identifying and managing contacts
Advising control measures to prevent the spread of the disease in the community, including isolation/restriction, chemoprophylaxis, vaccination, quarantine, and exposure event management
Notifiable diseases
Health Act 1956 (a full list of diseases notifiable by health practitioners and laboratories to a Medical Officer of Health is available from the Ministry of Health ). The disclosure of relevant personal and clinical information is allowable under the Health Information Privacy Code.
If the disease resulted from an occupational exposure, notification to WorkSafe NZ may be needed. NPHS Northern region can advise you about this.
Diseases Requiring Urgent Notification
Please send urgent disease notifications via eReferral in PMS (same as COVID notification eReferral).
Do not wait for laboratory confirmation before sending.
Fish poisoning/marine toxin poisoning (including Ciguatera fish poisoning and Scombroid poisoning)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis E
Ill traveller (e.g. diagnosed with a suspected notifiable disease upon arrival in New Zealand)
Listeria (invasive)
Measles
Meningococcal disease
Mumps
Paratyphoid
Pertussis
Shigella (culture positive and non-sonnei)
Typhoid
Anthrax
Botulism
Cholera (if toxigenic strain)
Diphtheria (if toxigenic strain)
Enterobacter / Cronobacter sakazakii
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
Haemophilus Influenzae type B (if probable/confirmed type B)
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
Nipah
Plague
Poliomyelitis
Rabies and other lyssaviruses
Ricin poisoning
Rubella
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Smallpox
Staphylococcal toxin poisoning
Tetanus
Viral haemorrhagic fevers, e.g. Ebola
Viral gastroenteritis, including norovirus (if two or more casesare linked to the same source; there is a high risk of onward transmission, or the causative agent is noninfectious gastrointestinal intoxicants)
Outbreak of any notifiable disease – an outbreak is defined as two or more cases linked to a common source
In Auckland, please send an eReferral. You can also email notify@adhb.govt.nz or call (09) 623 4600 for support or for more information.
Please note that some notifiable diseases are primarily sexually transmitted (AIDs, HIV, Gonorrhoea, Syphilis). Notification is mainly for disease surveillance and outbreak control. NPHS Northern Region does not do contact tracing for STIs (please contact Sexual Health Services). Cases must be notified without directly identifying the patient, but notification does include the NHI. There is an online notification system through ESR, the national infectious disease surveillance agency. A website link is included in the laboratory result.
You do not notify NPHS directly in the Northern Region, except for AIDS.
Other diseases may become notifiable temporarily during outbreaks.