Preparing for an online medical certificate consultation

Prepare the relevant dates and circumstances

Record when the illness or caring responsibility began, the days affected and whether you have already missed work or study. Explain what duties or activities you could not safely perform.

For carer responsibilities, be ready to explain your relationship to the person and why their illness, injury or unexpected emergency required your care. Share only information relevant to the assessment.

Describe the health problem accurately

Explain symptoms, severity, duration, treatment tried and how the condition affected function. Have medicines, allergies, relevant results and previous consultations available.

The doctor may need video, examination, further records or in-person assessment. A certificate cannot be issued merely because a particular date range was requested.

Understand evidence requirements

Under Fair Work information, employers may ask for evidence even for one day or less, and the evidence must convince a reasonable person that leave was justified. Awards, agreements, workplaces and educational institutions can have additional requirements.

Check what the receiving organisation needs before the appointment. The organisation—not EUCA MD—ultimately decides whether it accepts a particular document.

Backdating is not automatic

A doctor can only certify what is clinically supportable from the consultation and available information. Requests for past dates may require contemporaneous records or may not be appropriate.

Book as close as reasonably possible to the affected period. Do not alter a certificate or ask a doctor to include information they cannot verify.

Confirm delivery and privacy

Check the spelling of your legal name, the relevant dates and how the document will be sent. Only provide it to the employer, institution or other recipient that requires it.

A certificate generally communicates capacity or absence rather than unnecessary diagnostic details. Ask the doctor if you have privacy concerns about the requested wording.

Common questions