Health officials have revealed it is not protocol to inform the Chief Health Officer or minister of deaths from a notifiable disease, after a Canberra mother died from complications from influenza. 

Jennifer Thew, from Gungahlin, died over the weekend while being flown to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney for treatment, after initially being cared for at Calvary Hospital in Canberra's north.

Health minister Meegan Fitzharris on Wednesday would not confirm details of the case - including the particular strain of the flu virus or how long she was at Calvary Hospital before being transferred to Sydney - citing the wishes of her family. 

However Ms Fitzharris said on Tuesday she had heard of the woman's death via media reports and would seek a briefing with ACT Health about the case. 

"As I mentioned yesterday this is obviously a very sad event and our thoughts and condolences particularly go out to the the family and of course we want to respect their privacy at this incredibly difficult time," Ms Fitzharris said.

"Sadly we have seen this years' flu season has been a really bad flu season and we have seen it really can affect anyone. 

"That's something we will be closely monitoring. I know it is of concern to health professionals. Our advice is if you are unwell please seek help."

An ACT Health spokesman said the directorate was routinely told of diagnoses of notifiable conditions made in the ACT under the Public Health Act.

There are more than 60 notifiable diseases on the register, including laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza. 

Some diseases, like bird flu, lyssavirus or Hib, require the Chief Health Officer to be called as soon as a diagnosis is made, with written notification to follow.

Diseases in a second category, like influenza, only require written notification to be made within five days of diagnosis. 

The form health professionals use is titled 'report of notifiable condition or related death form'.

A 2006 ACT Health Code of Practice available online states deaths from notifiable conditions should be reported.

However, the legislation does not require deaths related to these communicable diseases to be reported, the spokesman said. 

"Calvary did not fail to notify. There is no requirement under the Public Health Act to specifically inform ACT Health that a person known to have a notifiable condition has died," he said.

Hospitals can, at their discretion, choose to inform the directorate and minister of particular cases however this is separate to the formal notification process and "a notification does not automatically trigger an advisory be escalated beyond the clinical setting", the spokesman said.

"At all times the hospital's priority is to keep the patients healthy and to respect their privacy," he said.

"ACT Health will continue to work with Canberra's hospitals to ensure processes and procedures are in place to share patient information, when it is appropriate."

Ms Fitzharris on Wednesday continued to encourage people to get immunised, while noting the reports lack of efficiency of the flu vaccine for some strains.

 "We of course will continue to monitor the situation and if there are decisions we can make we will make them. I am meeting with ACT health tomorrow to talk further about this [flu season]," Ms Fitzharris said.

"What we seem to have seen across the country is the flu having terrible implications for people that we haven't previously seen get so unwell from the flu."

Meanwhile a GoFundMe page set up by Ms Thew's daughter's dance school has raised close to $6000.