Yes, it is possible to get medical certificates online in Australia, if the doctor is appropriately trained and 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 be backdated by our doctors, subject to assessment, and provided the period of sick leave is very recent, e.g. within the past few days. The date of the consultation appears at the top of the certificate, and the relevant dates of sick leave are 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.

Yes, an online medical certificate from one of our doctors 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 issued over 50,000 online medical certificates to date. 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.

• • Seeing an online doctor may be a new experience for many.
  • You can rest assured that every doctor on the Qoctor team is a licensed, registered & fully insured doctor based in Australia.
  • Qoctor adheres to the highest clinical standards.
  • Every document you receive from Qoctor will quote the AHPRA registration number and Medicare provider number of the relevant doctor- you can easily view the doctor’s registration details on the AHPRA website.

• • Yes, all our certificates 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)
  • 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 and the reason you need a certificate, They will also ask some questions to make sure you are not seriously unwell.
  • After your appointment, subject to assessment,  your medical certificate will be immediately uploaded to your Qoctor account and emailed to you as a downloadable PDF.
  • Please note, 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 access your profile on the website, and click on ‘change consult time’ 
• This can be done up to 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment slot.

• • You will receive your downloadable certificate within moments of your video consultation- it’ll be uploaded to your Qoctor account, and it will be emailed to you as a PDF attachment.

• • 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.

• Occasionally, following your video consultation, the online doctor may feel you need to be assessed in person. They may advise you that your symptoms require a physical examination, for safety reasons.
• In that case, you will be refunded and advised what to do next.

Can I get a backdated medical certificate?

In most situations, it is possible to get a backdated medical certificate with Qoctor, provided certain conditions are met, and subject to the doctor’s assessment. A doctor can certify that a period of illness has occurred prior to the date of the actual consultation/examination, as long as this illness/sick leave took place recently- i.e within the last few days.

The date of the 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 unwell and unable to attend work or scheduled activities on the dates in question, which may include days in the recent past. 

Some other online providers do not offer backdated certificates, often because they do not actually conduct a video consultation with the patient to discuss the situation properly. At Qoctor, we have a video consultation with every patient, for safety, thoroughness and to allow us this flexibility in certifying for the dates the patient needs, in a responsible way.

Furthermore, employees are sometimes incorrectly advised about this issue by their employers or others, i.e they are led to believe 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”.

An exception to this is when too much time has elapsed since the period of sick leave (for example, it was weeks or months in the past)- in this case a doctor may not be able to offer a backdated medical certificate. If our online doctor is unable to issue you with a certificate for this (or any other) reason, Qoctor offers a full refund.

• We do not currently offer these services, and recommend you see your regular GP
• Please register for updates about upcoming new services

• • 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).
  • We have issued over 52,000 certificates across Australia and have never had a certificate rejected.
  • 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.