Calls to change employee medical certificate requirements
A GP in New South Wales says he's spending too much time seeing patients who need a medical certificate for work -- rather than needing treatment. It's led to calls for employers to change the documentation requirements if staff are away for just a day or two with a minor ailment. The Royal College of GPs says doing so would help free up appointments for those who need them most.
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00:00 We do love the opportunity to meet with our patients, assess their concerns, check if
00:06 there's any preventative health actions that they need, such as blood pressure or bloods,
00:11 and then if they need a medical certificate at the end of that, sure. But clogging our
00:15 waiting rooms and taking up valuable appointments just so that the employer feels a little bit
00:20 better about a piece of paper is the wrong way to go.
00:22 By and large, we will give a medical certificate whenever the patient has said that their employer
00:29 demands it. Now, many people do come and see us with the coughs and colds because we are
00:33 heading into that season, and they want an assessment as part of that to see if there's
00:37 anything else they should do. And then we might fill out the medical certificate as
00:40 part of that. But certainly doctors are finding that people are taking up the appointment
00:46 just so that they can have the piece of paper is bothersome and cumbersome and blocks somebody
00:50 else from having the appointment.
00:52 We do know that people can get certificates from their pharmacist, and there are even
00:56 online companies now that as long as you press the right buttons in the right order on the
01:01 internet, you'll get a medical certificate mailed to you, which sort of takes the importance
01:08 of the assessment out of it. And employers don't really know what they're getting if
01:11 they're getting one of these online medical certificates.
01:15 Going online or going to a pharmacist could cost anywhere near $25. If they're going to
01:19 get a rebate, a Medicare rebate for that medical certificate, that might be in order of $40
01:24 or more. And the reality is that employers are deliberately doing this to try and disincentivise
01:30 or to put people off getting a medical certificate. It's evident that many employers, even though
01:35 legally and under fair work, they should be able to accept a statutory declaration or
01:39 even let the person have one or two days off work without a certificate.
01:44 Many employers are actually forcing their employees to go ahead and pay these fees or
01:48 pay to see a doctor, take up the time, drag themselves out of the house when they're feeling
01:52 unwell just so that the employer has got a piece of paper to make themselves feel better.
01:57 What we want to be clear is that people that actually want an assessment, they want to
02:01 be sure that they're well or that they don't need to do anything else, may get a medical
02:05 certificate as a part of that appointment. But if they need that assessment or want that,
02:09 that's great. I did a medical assessment over the phone for somebody who was COVID positive.
02:14 They also needed a medical certificate. After chatting, we realised that she was probably
02:18 well enough and didn't need any intervention. But we also noticed from our medical software
02:23 that she was overdue for an abnormal pap smear result and actually needed follow up. And
02:27 if it hadn't been for that assessment as part of that consultation, we may have missed that
02:32 opportunity. So there still is a really key role in seeing your doctor where a medical
02:36 certificate might be an output or an outcome. But to only come in just for the medical certificate
02:42 when the patient knows that they're well enough, that they just need a day or two for their
02:46 gastroenteritis or their sore throat or runny nose, then in those cases, we think employers
02:51 should be more reasonable in what they're asking.
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