Employment Health

We can help with pre-work checks or with any illness that could impact your work.

Maintaining good health is vital for making your work enjoyable and for preventing workplace accidents. We can help with any health concerns you have that you feel may impact your work. These issues can range from accidents and injury to mental health or stress, driving safety or changes to long-term health conditions.

Medical certificates and sick notes

An employer may ask an employee for proof of sickness or injury. Usually proof is a medical certificate from a doctor saying that the employee is sick or injured (or their spouse, partner or dependent) and isn’t able to work. Please find more information on the Employment NZ website.

Medical certificates are legal documents. We have strict legal, ethical and clinical obligations under the NZ Medical Council regarding all medical certification issued by a doctor. 

ACC Medical certificates

Our GPs can issue you with a medical certificate if you need to reduce your hours or change the activities and type of work you do because of injury. We must follow the formal process set out by ACC, which can cover you for up to the first 14 days off work in the first instance. You may be “fit for selected work” or “fully unfit for work”, and this assessment can change over time. We need to gather as much detail about your injury as we can, and we do pass this information on to ACC through the various ACC forms required.

ACC has asked us to use an ability, tolerance, and risk model to inform the return to work process. Ability means what can you safely do — cognitively, physically, and interpersonally. We may offer you diagnosis, treatment, or rehabilitation recommendations and prognosis.

Tolerance means that we may recommend you adjust your work such as hours, travel, and tasks; or specify dates for staged return to activities at work. Risk assessment means that we may specify what you must not do – to keep you or others safe. We may outline what may constitute a risk, such as certain activities or situations. We might detail any specific actions that should be taken to reduce risk, eg changes to the environment, seating, or breaks.

WINZ Medical certificates and Disability allowances

We can see you to assess if you meet the criteria for a WINZ Sickness benefit if you are unable to work, need to reduce your hours, or cannot work at all due to health. The Disability Allowance is a weekly payment for people who have regular, ongoing costs because of a disability, such as visits to the doctor or for funding for counselling.

It is very important that you have visited the WINZ website or talked to your WINZ case worker before you come to your appointment with us. This way you can see what you are entitled to and check your criteria for eligibility. We cannot advise you about your WINZ entitlements.

WINZ Medical certificates are reviewed 1-3 months and disability certificates are reviewed annually. In both cases WINZ may use their own doctor to review your health needs.

Letters of advocacy

We can write letters of support and advocacy to a wide range of Government or private agencies and to help support your health and social needs. For example, we write letters to Housing NZ to help our patients get better access to housing. Other examples of our advocacy services include letters to schools, landlords or education providers. Please let us know how we can support your health needs and who we can talk to.

Drivers licence medical certificate (DL9)

Sometimes medical conditions can affect people’s ability to drive safely. We can help you and your family reduce the risk of harm through vehicle accidents by checking you are fit to drive. There is an extra cost to a Drivers licence medical as it is not subsidized by the government and takes a longer time than regular appointment. You may need to have a Driving License Medical if you:

  • are applying for or renewing a heavy vehicle licence (class 2,3,4,5) and you have not provided a certificate within the last five years, or:
  • are applying for or renewing endorsements for passengers (P), vehicle recovery services (V), driving instruction (I) or testing (O) and you have not provided a certificate within the last five years, or:
  • have a medical condition that may affect their ability to drive safely, or:
  • are 75 years old or more and applying for or renewing any licence or endorsement; or
  • NZTA have asked to provide one.

Insurance medicals 

When applying for certain kinds of insurance, factors such as your age, medical problems and level of cover may mean you need to have an Insurance medical check. Please let us know when you make the appointment that you need an Insurance medical. The insurance company will give you very specific instructions on what they require for the checkup. You may also have a blood test, urine sample and full physical examination depending on what the insurance company requires. The appointment is 30 minutes, and sometimes the insurance company will pay the cost of the appointment depending on your policy.

Pre-employment medical checks

Sometimes your workplace may need your health to be checked before you start work. This helps to make sure that any health-related requirements essential to work performance are identified, especially if your role is safety-critical. A pre-employment medical may include a full examination, medical history, blood pressure and a follow up visit for a lung function (Spirometry) test. Please let us know you need a pre-employment medical when you book your appointment and let us know what your employer requires.

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