Guide
How Employers Verify a Telehealth GP Certificate, AHPRA Check and QR Code Guide
25 Sept 2026
SICK LEAVE
Mental Health Medical Certificate
If stress, anxiety, depression, or burnout is affecting your ability to work, an AHPRA-registered GP can assess you in a confidential real-time consult and issue a certificate without disclosing your diagnosis to your employer.
- Real-time consultation
- AHPRA-registered Australian GPs
- Certificate confirms unfitness for work, not your diagnosis
- Secure and confidential process
- Same-day issuance if approved
No formal diagnosis required for a certificate to be issued
From $9.99
- One-off payment
- Full refund if declined
- Same-day delivery if approved
AHPRA-registered GPs
Same-day delivery if approved
100% secure & private
Full refund if declined
Accepted across Australia
Getting the Support You Need
A mental health-related sick leave certificate request follows OMC Health's real-time clinical assessment process with an AHPRA-registered GP. The GP considers your current symptoms, how they affect work capacity and whether certification is clinically appropriate.
Mental health symptoms can affect concentration, decision-making, communication, energy and the ability to perform work safely. The assessment focuses on that functional impact rather than assuming a particular diagnosis automatically requires time away from work.
This page explains what the GP may assess, what can stay private on the certificate, how workplace evidence requirements apply and when another care pathway may be more appropriate than certificate-only support.
Key Facts
Consult mode
Your consultation is conducted in real time by phone or video. The GP may require video or recommend in-person assessment where visual or physical assessment is clinically necessary.
Certificate privacy
OMC Health's standard certificate can document the assessed period of unfitness without routinely including the diagnosis or personal history.
The GP decides whether certification is appropriate after assessing your individual presentation and work capacity.
Mental health leave
Can You Get a Sick Leave Certificate for Mental Health?
A GP can assess whether mental health symptoms have made you medically unfit for work for a particular period. Certification may be appropriate where anxiety, low mood, acute stress, exhaustion or another psychological presentation is affecting your ability to perform your actual role safely and effectively.
The decision is based on the current clinical presentation and functional impact. A diagnosis label by itself does not determine whether a certificate should be issued or how long any certified period should be.
Clinical basis
What the GP Assesses Instead of Using a Qualifying List
There is no fixed list of mental health conditions that automatically qualifies someone for sick leave. The GP considers what is happening now and whether the symptoms are affecting work capacity.
Current symptoms
What you are experiencing and how long it has been affecting you.
Functional impact
Effects on concentration, judgement, communication, energy or ability to complete work safely.
Safety and follow-up
Whether another assessment, ongoing care or urgent support is more appropriate.
Certificate wording
Does the Certificate Need to State Your Diagnosis?
A medical certificate is evidence of work incapacity; it does not need to become a detailed mental-health report. On OMC Health's standard certificate, the GP can document the assessed period of unfitness without routinely including the diagnosis or personal history. Organisation-specific forms can request different information.
The certificate and the clinical consultation serve different purposes. The consultation can contain much more clinical detail than the document provided as workplace evidence.
Medical privacy
What Stays Confidential From the Consultation
The consultation may involve sensitive information because the GP needs enough context to assess current symptoms, functional impact and safety. That information is generally confidential and is handled under health-privacy obligations. Disclosure outside the care context may require consent unless another legal or serious-safety basis applies.
This means the clinical conversation should not be treated as information automatically available to an employer simply because a certificate has been requested. The exact information released depends on the document purpose, consent and any applicable legal obligations.
For a deeper explanation of telehealth privacy, see what stays confidential between you and the doctor. Medical confidentiality and professional conduct are also addressed in the Medical Board of Australia's code of conduct.
How to Get Started
We operate as a platform that connects you with trusted Australian medical practices.
1
Start your booking
Choose a sick leave certificate on the OMC Health booking page and share your details and symptoms securely.
2
Speak with a GP
Real-time phone consult with an AHPRA-registered Australian GP, so the GP can properly assess your presentation.
3
Certificate Issued if Appropriate
If the GP determines it's clinically appropriate, your certificate is digitally issued and emailed the same day.
Ready to get started?
Book a real-time consult with an AHPRA-registered GP. From 9.99.
Employer view
Privacy: What the Certificate Discloses to Your Employer
OMC Health's standard certificate can record the assessed period of work incapacity without routinely including a mental health diagnosis, detailed symptoms or personal history.
The exact information needed can vary where an employer, insurer or another organisation uses a specific form or has a reasonable evidence requirement. The certificate should provide information appropriate to its purpose without becoming a full clinical report.
Workplace evidence
Mental Health Leave and Fair Work Evidence
For workplace leave, the key question is whether the person was unable to work because of illness or injury and whether reasonable evidence is provided if requested. Workplace evidence rules can also be affected by an award, registered agreement or policy.
OMC Health should therefore not state that every mental health certificate must be accepted automatically or that an employer can never request anything further. The applicable evidence requirements depend on the circumstances.
Real-time consultation
How the GP Assesses Mental Health Absence
Your consultation is conducted in real time by phone or video. The GP may require video or recommend in-person assessment where visual or physical assessment is clinically necessary.
During the consultation, the GP may ask about current symptoms, how long they have been present, recent changes, work duties, functional impact, existing support and any safety concerns. The purpose is to decide what is clinically appropriate, not simply to confirm the certificate period requested at booking.
If another care pathway is more appropriate, the GP may recommend further assessment or ongoing support rather than treating a certificate as the only outcome.
For the broader OMC consultation pathway, see how the consultation process works.
AHPRA Registration
OMC Health consultations are conducted by AHPRA-registered GPs. Practitioner registration can be checked through the public register.
Updated AHPRA telehealth guidance also emphasises that telehealth consultations must be clinically appropriate for the patient's circumstances.
AHPRA telehealth guidanceUrgent support comes before certificate assessment
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000. If you need crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Mental health information and support are also available from Beyond Blue.
Different presentations
Anxiety, Low Mood, Burnout and Stress at Work
Different mental health presentations can affect work in different ways. The GP focuses on the current functional impact, such as concentration, emotional regulation, decision-making, communication, fatigue or the ability to perform safety-sensitive duties.
Burnout or overload may build gradually, while a panic episode can affect work capacity more suddenly. The relevant question remains what is happening now and whether the person can perform their role safely during the period being assessed.
Ongoing care
When Ongoing Mental Health Care May Be More Appropriate
A sick leave certificate addresses a period of work incapacity. It is not a substitute for ongoing mental health care where symptoms are persistent, recurrent or affecting broader areas of daily life.
Depending on the presentation, the GP may recommend follow-up with your regular GP or another appropriate health professional. A GP Mental Health Treatment Plan may be considered separately where clinically appropriate.
Certificate assessment and longer-term treatment planning are separate clinical decisions.
Clinical meaning
What 'Unfit for Work' Means for Psychological Conditions
Being assessed as unfit for work means the GP considers the current symptoms and functional impact significant enough that the person cannot reasonably perform their role for the certified period.
There is no single universal symptom score or diagnosis label that determines this. The GP considers the person's presentation, actual work duties, safety, relevant history and expected short-term course before making the certification decision.
Certificate Verification
Once an OMC Health certificate is issued, its certificate ID or QR verification details can be used to check authenticity.
Verify a certificate →PRICING
Simple, transparent pricing
One-off payment. No hidden fees. If the GP declines, you get a full refund.
FROM$9.99
One-off payment. All prices include GST.
View full pricing details- AHPRA reviewed by a registered GP
- Delivered on the same day if approved
- Secure and confidential
- Full refund if GP declines
- No hidden fees
Secure payment
Same-day delivery
Issued through our partner practice network
Your consultation is conducted by an AHPRA-registered GP from one of 20+ partner practices across Australia. The certificate is issued under that GP's own registration.
Frequently asked questions
View all FAQsYes. A GP can assess and issue a sick leave certificate for mental health the same way as for a physical illness, based on how your current symptoms are affecting your ability to work, without needing a formal diagnosis to be recorded on the certificate itself or shared with your employer.
Generally yes, provided the certificate is from a registered practitioner and the consult was genuine. Fair Work guidance treats a telehealth certificate the same as an in-person one, and this applies equally to mental health certificates as to any other type of medical certificate.
Not simply because it's from a telehealth consult, and not because it relates to mental health rather than a physical condition. An employer would need a genuine, specific reason to doubt a certificate's validity, not just a general preference for in-person visits or discomfort with the underlying topic.
No. The certificate confirms that you were assessed as unfit for work for a stated period; it does not disclose your diagnosis or the details discussed during your consultation.
OMC Health uses real-time phone or video consultations. The GP decides what is appropriate for a safe assessment.
A mental health sick leave certificate from OMC Health is issued after a phone consult with an AHPRA-registered GP, always by video rather than phone, so the doctor can properly assess how you're presenting before confirming you're unfit for work.