[Dr] Max Mollenkopf estimates he sees two or three patients each day at his GP practice in Mulubinba/Newcastle who don’t need treatment but require a medical certificate for work.
For employees, a trip to the doctor for a medical certificate can be time-consuming and costly, especially if your appointment isn’t bulk-billed.
Meanwhile, these appointments can take clinical time from people who are genuinely sick, Dr Mollenkopf says.
“If someone is sick and they want to see me, every day of the week I want them to be able to come in,” he says.
“I didn’t sign up to do medicine to do HR policy on behalf of large corporations.”
If the employee is frequently on sick leave and is required to produce paper, that’s a trust issue. But if the manager can’t recall when the employee was last ill yet still demands one, then they’ve shown they cannot distinguish trust from compliance.