Pharmacists Issuing Medical Certificates - Radio Interview

DR CAPOLINGUA: Good afternoon.

NICK XENOPHON: What does the AMA say about this at a national level?

DR CAPOLINGUA: Oh, we've got significant concerns about the prospect of any allied health worker providing medical certificates because we understand that they're not really able to come to a conclusion about what the illness, or sickness is. Pharmacists are very highly skilled and trained in what they do, and I have total respect for that, but I might present to the pharmacist having needed to take the day off work because I have a headache. I tell the pharmacist I have a headache. The pharmacist has not got the skill, the training or understanding to be able to take a history, assess me, certainly cannot examine me, to make a diagnosis. I might get my certificate for two days but in fact I've got meningococcus and I am dead within that 48-hour-period because I haven't seen a doctor.

I think we have got to remember we've got to protect the employee here, protect the person who is sick and make sure that they are accessing the right sort of care and advice in every case because you don't know which case is the one that is going to be the fatal one or the one that's causing significant...

NICK XENOPHON: Rosanna, why has it - this has come about though because there's been a huge increase in the demand for sickness certificates in the last few years and doctors can't cope with them, so you can understand why it's happened, but why is it that - why has there been such a massive increase, something like 800,000 more requests for medical certificates in 2006/7 compared to '98. '99.

DR CAPOLINGUA: A significant jump. The premise is around employers demanding the medical certificate. I don't think we can say that employees are twice as sick as they used to be. I don't think that's necessarily the case, there may be some increase but I think that it's about the request for the sick certificate. The employer is perhaps now demanding a sick certificate when the employee is just having one day, or up to two days, off.

In the past, often there was an understanding between employer and employee that if you needed one day or two days off, you didn't have to present work with a sick certificate. We must always assume that the employee is sick and indeed if they are sick for a protracted period of time, they would be seeing a doctor anyway. But if they have woken up and they've just, you know, they're off colour for the day and can't cope with going to work, because they're sick, they may not need to see the doctor on that particular day but with the employer demanding a certificate then they have to go and seek one out.

NICK XENOPHON: So, Rosanna, is it a case that the AMA will be lobbying against this with the new Rudd Labor Government?

DR CAPOLINGUA: We were very distressed that, under WorkChoices legislation, there was an opening up for any allied health provider - in fact even naturopaths and iridologists could issue sick certificates. We're very concerned about the safety issues around the person who is seeking the certificate, around their health and safety if they're not seeing a doctor and indeed we'd be keen to push that back into the right perspective. So I think employers would also be concerned at the value of sick certificates from other providers, but by the same token I would be asking employers to build a better relationship with the employees to have an element of trust and understanding so that the demands around sick certificates can be something that's more responsible.

NICK XENOPHON: WorkChoices would have played a role on this, wouldn't it?

DR CAPOLINGUA: Indeed.

NICK XENOPHON: Dr Rosanna Capolingua, we'll leave it there with you on that. Federal President of the AMA, thank you for joining 5AA.

DR CAPOLINGUA: Thank you.

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