A treating doctor has a clear role in the injury management process, which includes:
- diagnosis, primary care and coordination of medical treatment
- establishing, in their opinion, whether the diagnosis does/does not correlate with the injury as described by the patient
- reviewing the injured worker’s medical condition
- liaising with the employer or employer’s representative to facilitate an injured worker’s maintenance in or return to work
- referring for workplace rehabilitation assistance where required.
The Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023 (the Act) sets out the role of the worker’s treating medical practitioner, reinforces the worker’s right to choose their treating medical practitioner and prohibits an employer attending the medical examination of a worker. For more information on a treating practitioner’s role, see Workers Treating Medical Practitioner and Medical Examinations.
It is not the treating doctor’s role to determine whether a worker has a valid claim under the Act. Medical opinion should be restricted to whether the medical condition could have resulted from the incident reported by the worker and the consequential ability of the worker to perform their work duties (i.e. full capacity for work, some capacity for work or no capacity for any work).
Speaking with the injured worker's employerBy working together with the employer, you can assist the injured worker’s return to work in a timely manner and reduce the possibility of further aggravation or recurrence of the injury.
The employer can provide you with a list of the available duties within the workplace. These can then be reviewed by you to determine their appropriateness or suitability and the return to work plan can be developed and implemented.
See the Clinical Framework page for further information.
The certificates of capacity can be downloaded from the Health provider resources page.
The Clinical guideline for the diagnosis and management of work-related mental health conditions (the Guideline) has been developed to assist general practitioners (GPs) with the diagnosis and management of work-related mental health conditions.
Along with the Guideline, a short form document has also been developed which lists detailed recommendations and practice points derived from the Guideline, as well as a two-page GP summary which provides a snapshot of the recommendations and consensus statements in the Guideline.
