It is possible to request a medical certificate online in Australia. Telehealth doctors need to be  fully registered with AHPRA .These days it is quite common for Australian GPs and specialists to assess their patients via video consultation, for all sorts of health issues. You should expect the doctor to ask you some questions about your medical history and your symptoms, just as they would in a regular clinic. A medical certificate can relate to a previous day or days, subject to assessment, and provided the period of sick leave is very recent, e.g. within the past few days. However the date of the consultation always appears at the top of the certificate, with the relevant dates of sick leave stated in the certificate also.

A medical certificate issued via an appropriately conducted online assessment is a legal document, just the same as one you’d receive in a clinic. For more information on your rights as an employee go to www.fairwork.gov.au .   

It is also important to note that an online doctor may occasionally advise you to see a doctor in person instead, for example, if they assess that you are more significantly unwell and a physical examination is needed.

A medical certificate issued by a telehealth doctor is a legal document and contains all the appropriate information you’d expect- including relevant dates, full professional details of the doctor, and their signature. Qoctor has conducted thousands of telehealth appointments over the past few years. Our service is supported by employees and employers alike.

An employee must inform their employer if intending to take sick leave or carer’s leave. This has to be done as soon as possible, but can be after the leave has started. It should be specified how long the absence from work will be, or is expected to be.

An employer can ask an employee to give evidence that confirms they took leave because they were unable  to work because of an illness or injury, or needed to care for an immediate family or household member who was experiencing illness, injury, or unexpected emergency.

Employers are entitled to ask employees for evidence for as little as 1 day or less off work.

An employee who does not provide their employer with evidence when asked may not be entitled to be paid for sick leave or carer’s leave.

An award or registered agreement can specify the circumstances in which an employee must give evidence to their employer and what type of evidence is required. The type of evidence requested must be reasonable in the circumstances.

Medical certificates and statutory declarations (stat decs) are  considered acceptable forms of evidence.  Although there are no strict rules on what type of evidence should be provided by an employee, the evidence has to convince a reasonable person that the employee was genuinely entitled to the leave.

What about medical appointments and planned surgery?

Medical appointments and elective surgeries that are pre-arranged can only be covered by sick leave if an employee is unable to work because of an illness or injury. It will depend on each individual circumstance. An employer can ask for evidence from an employee to confirm that they were unfit for work. This can help decide whether an employee should be paid sick leave or a different type of leave/entitlement.

Employers attending medical appointments

It is not considered reasonable for an employer to attend a medical appointment with an employee, unless the employee requests it. It is also not considered reasonable for an employer to contact the employee’s doctor to obtain information.

Further information about Australian law relating to sick leave and your rights as an employee can be found at www.fairwork.gov.au

Qoctor takes data security very seriously. Our website has 256 bit SSL data encryption and authentication. And we do not share your information with third parties.

As per Australian guidelines, the standard requirements for a medical certificate are:

• Name and address of the doctor issuing the certificate
• Name of the patient
• Date on which the examination took place
• Date on which the certificate was issued
• Date(s) on which the patient is or was unfit for attendance
• A diagnosis is not usually required. If it is a requirement for a diagnosis to be provided, the doctor should inform the patient and only proceed to include the diagnosis following the express consent of the patient.

Qoctor is founded and run by a group of Australian doctors, and we work hard to ensure quality and integrity across out service.

• • You can rest assured that every doctor on the Qoctor team is a licensed, registered & fully insured doctor based in Australia.
  • Qoctor adheres to high clinical standards.
  • Every document you receive from Qoctor will quote the AHPRA registration number of the relevant doctor- so you can easily view the doctor’s registration details on the AHPRA website.

• • All certificates issued by Qoctor are provided after an appropriate, detailed telehealth consultation, with a registered doctor based in Australia. Our certificates have exactly the same validity as a certificate issued in person, in a clinic, following appropriate an assessment.
  • Online/telehealth services are now commonplace across Australia, and the same professional standards apply to both telehealth  and in-person doctors’ appointments.
  • If you provide a medical certificate or carer’s certificate to your employer which has been issued by a Qoctor doctor, occasionally they may wish to know more about our service. They can use the ‘contact us’ section from the main menu on the website, or live chat on the bottom right corner of the screen. We’ll be happy to explain our service to them, and how it works.
  • Of course, patient confidentiality is paramount- we’ll never share any of your personal information or health details with your employer or any other third parties without your express permission.
  • Finally, we have a user friendly “certificate validity checker” for employers, so they can verify that the medical certificate you give them is authentic, if they wish. This can be accessed through the “for employers” section in the main menu, OR start <here>.

• • Just follow the website instructions – you can choose a timeslot for your video consultation with the online doctor. 
  • Ensure you are online on the video platform when your appointment is scheduled (don’t forget there may be a time difference, depending where you live. Our time slots are AEST, i.e. local Melbourne time)
  • To get online for your appointment, you should receive an SMS and email 30 minutes prior to your appointment with a link to the video platform. Once your time slot begins, click on this link and you should find yourself in the video waiting room.
  • The doctor will connect with you shortly, during the allotted time period. They will ask you questions about your health.
  • After your appointment, subject to assessment,  your medical certificate can be immediately downloaded from your Qoctor account.
  • Please note, if the doctor assesses you and feels you need to see a doctor in person, they may refund you and advise you what you need to do next.

• Click on the link ‘change consult time’ within the confirmation email and then select a time slot of your choice
• Alternatively you can log in to your profile on the website, and click on ‘change consult time’ 
• This can be done up to 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment slot.

Subject to your assessment, the doctor may decide to issue a medical certificate. If so, your downloadable certificate will appear in your Qoctor profile within moments of your video consultation- simply login to your account to view, download etc.

• • We will try to contact you firstly on the video platform and then on your mobile number if there is no answer. 
  • If we are still unable to get hold of you, we will send you a link via email which will allow you to book another later appointment for free, if you wish. You will have 48 hours to rebook, after which time the link will expire.

• Sometimes, based on your video consultation, the doctor may feel you need to be assessed in person. They may advise you that your symptoms require a physical examination, for safety reasons or some other type of investigation. This may also be advised if you have had multiple medical certificates in a short period of time.
• In that case, the doctor will advise what to do next. A refund is routinely issued in this case.

Can I get a backdated medical certificate?

It is often possible to get a medical certificate to cover recent days, provided certain conditions are met (and depending on the doctor’s assessment).  A doctor can certify that a period of illness has occurred prior to the date of your actual appointment/examination, subject to the specific medical circumstances AND provided the sick leave took place within the last few days.

The date of the actual consultation will appear at the top of the medical certificate (this is a legal requirement for all medical documents). The certificate will also state that you were unable to attend work or scheduled activities on the dates in question, due to illness- which may include days in the recent past. 

You may find that some other online providers will not provide backdated certificates, or certificates for multiple days- often because they do not actually conduct a proper consultation with the patient to discuss the situation. At Qoctor, a video consultation takes place with every patient. This ensures safety, thoroughness and the flexibility to certify for the dates the patient needs, in a responsible way. It also means employers have more trust in the process.

Employees are sometimes incorrectly advised by their employers that getting a medical certificate relating to previous dates is not allowed. However, Australian employment law clearly states that it is allowable for employees to obtain a medical certificate after the period of sick leave in question. According to www.fairwork.gov.au : “an employee has to let their employer know that they are going to take sick or carer’s leave. This has to be done as soon as possible, and can be after the leave has started. They should also specify how long they will be off or expect to be off work”.

However, when too much time has elapsed since the period of sick leave, a doctor, at their discretion, may determine that they are unable to offer a backdated medical certificate in this case (doctors are duty bound to adhere to guidelines from AHPRA around issuing medical certificates) If the doctor is unable to issue you with a certificate for this (or any other) reason, we will offer a full refund.

Book your medical certificate consultation HERE

Qoctor does not currently offer Workcover, Centrelink or TAC Certificates- we recommend you see your regular GP instead, as continuity of care is particularly important for ongoing work related health issues, or certificates relating to ongoing injuries/conditions.

• • Most employers will accept a PDF copy of your certificate- and they can go online to check its validity (though patient confidentiality is always maintained, your personal information is not shared).
  • Unfortunately we are unable to supply a paper copy of your online certificate, but you can obviously print out the document yourself if necessary. It will contain all the required information, including the doctor’s credentials, AHPRA registration number and their signature.
  • All certificates are generated electronically- we are a paperless practice as this improves efficiency and is kinder to the environment.