Carer Certificates
If someone in your family or household is sick ,and you need to take carer’s leave to look after them, our experienced Australian doctors can organise your carer’s certificate from the comfort of home. A simple video consultation, and for just $24.99, you’re sorted!
ABOUT CARER’S CERTIFICATES
- Usually you’ll get a same day appointment if you book before 5pm. Where possible, the person being cared for should also be present for the appointment.
- Our doctors are AHPRA registered, and experienced in telehealth. Our carer’s certificates are the same as those issued at your local clinic.
- You can download your certificate immediately after the video consultation (subject to doctor’s assessment).
FAQs
The consultation fee for a medical or carer’s certificate with MenHQ by Qoctor is $24.99 – there are no hidden extras.
At this point in time, MenHQ by Qoctor is a fully private online GP service, which means that we can not offer a Medicare rebate for telehealth appointments.
The reason we cannot offer a Medicare rebate relates to government regulations around telehealth which were introduced in 2020 – these stipulate that a patient must have seen that doctor face to face in the past 12 months in order to be eligible for a telehealth rebate. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, it is not possible for fully online providers such as MenHQ by Qoctor to meet this requirement, as our patients are spread right across Australia, and cannot be expected to visit us in person.
However, to overcome this challenge, we are committed to keep our prices as low as possible, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We still recommend you provide your Medicare details, particularly if you are getting a prescription- this may save you money when you get your MenHQ prescription dispensed at the chemist (this applies to medications available on the PBS).
Yes, if someone is obtaining a carer’s certificate, the person they are caring for on those dates needs to be present for the video consultation. There may be exceptions to this, at the doctor’s discretion, for example if the person being cared for is in hospital. However, where feasible, during the video consultation, the doctor will usually ask to speak to the person being cared for – to verify the nature of the illness/issue, and to ensure that the situation is safe.
If the person being cared for is not present or not available, the doctor may request you reschedule the appointment for a later time when this is possible.
Occasionally, if the doctor believes the person being cared for requires urgent medical care or an assessment by a doctor in person, it may not be possible to issue a carer’s certificate – in that case your booking fee may be refunded.
To find out more about carer’s certificates, and your rights and responsibilities in this regard as an employee, find out more at fairwork.gov.au
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 (this can include stress and pregnancy related illnesses), or if they are 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) may be considered acceptable forms of evidence, though in practice most employees prefer to get a certificate from a doctor to confirm their leave was medically necessary. 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.
For more information on employee rights and responsibilities regarding sick leave and carer’s leave, go to the Fairwork Ombudsman website.
Yes, a person may be eligible for carer’s leave (as distinct from parental leave), if they are providing care to a mum following childbirth, or to a newborn baby, where unexpected health issues have arisen. If a doctor is providing a carer’s certificate, they may need to ask some questions about the specific circumstances.
In the postnatal period, unexpected health issues may arise that require additional care and support. This could include unexpected issues affecting physical or mental health in the mother (for example, infection or postnatal depression), or an unexpected illness affecting a newborn baby. Similarly, compassionate leave may be appropriate in situations where life-threatening illness has occurred.
In Australia, as per www.fairwork.gov.au , carer’s leave (also known as personal leave or personal / carer’s leave) allows an employee take time off to help them deal with caring responsibilities and family emergencies.
“An employee may have to take time off to care for an immediate family or household member who is sick or injured or help during a family emergency. This is known as carer’s leave but it comes out of the employee’s personal leave balance”.
An immediate family member is a:
- spouse or former spouse
- de facto or former de facto partner
- child
- parent
- grandparent
- grandchild
- sibling, or
- child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee’s spouse or de facto partner (or former spouse or de facto partner).
A household member is any person who lives with the employee.
Sick and carer’s leave comes under the same leave entitlement (also known as personal / carer’s leave).
The yearly entitlement is based on an employee’s ordinary hours of work and is 10 days for full-time employees, and pro-rata for part-time employees. This can be calculated as 1/26 of an employee’s ordinary hours of work in a year.
Full-time and part-time employees accumulate sick and carer’s leave during each year of employment. It starts accumulating from an employee’s first day of work and is based on their ordinary hours of work.
The balance at the end of each year carries over to the next year.
Further Resources:
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/maternity-and-parental-leave
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/compassionate-and-bereavement-leave
Getting a carer’s certificate online
- Save money -the consultation fee is an affordable $24.99.
- Save time – carer’s leave can be spent caring, not queueing.
- Reduce the spread of infection– with telehealth, the transmission of viral infections can be minimised. This is especially important during the Covid-19 pandemic.
