Work capacity certificate instructional film

The new Queensland Work Capacity Certificate – workers' compensation allows doctors, dentists and nurse practitioners to focus on what recovering workers can do rather than what they can't, which supports the earliest possible return to work.

There are a number of changes from the old workers' compensation medical certificate. This film provides an overview of the major changes.

For more detailed information, please refer to the explanatory notes attached to the certificate.

Here are the major changes for certifiers:

Part A contains a new tick box, "Claim is report only" to be used when a patient is unsure whether they want to make a claim.

Part B includes an opportunity for certifiers to give details about the cause of the injury – enter this into the mechanism of injury field.

This new field in Part C allows you to indicate that medication has been prescribed that may impact a worker's safe work, travel or cognitive function.

Certify the workers' capacity for work in Part D. Whether they can return to their pre-injury role immediately, require suitable duties at work, or cannot return to work at all.

This new field allows you to certify functional ability regardless of availability of suitable duties at worker's workplace.

If you certify no functional capacity for any type of work, please indicate why in the box provided.

Part E is where the change to a work capacity certificate really takes effect.

On the new certificate, medical professionals indicate what a worker CAN do, instead of what they can't.

If the injury affects one or more of your patient's abilities, tick the "Yes" column and indicate what they CAN do within this particular limitation.

In Part F, you can specify any workplace modifications that will be needed to facilitate return to work.

Modifications can be made to support both physical and psychological injuries.

Access worksafe.qld.gov.au/medicalsupport for more resources and information.

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