It is a Centrelink job capacity assessor who decides, but I have found that by clearly providing the medical information in a way that fits what is described in the tables the process is made much easier. They don't tend to take much notice of statements from a doctor like "too ill to work" but they do take notice of statements like "cannot concentrate for more than ... without severe exacerbation of ..." The assessor is not necessarily a medically trained person, although they may be. Their job is to find what you can do and if there is any possible way to overcome barriers of what you say you can't do.
Doctors are busy people and I found writing out a list of ways that I am affected to be helpful for them in formulating their responses to the Centrelink documentation. Centrelink is not interested in symptoms, but in what you can or can't do.
For example one of the things I had on my list was the inability to process information, examples I included were:
- Seeing a red light but not registering that it meant I needed to stop
- Filling a cup of coffee but continuing to pour as the cup overflowed
another was the short term memory loss, examples I included were:
- asking someone a question, but then not remembering what I had asked when they responded, so not able to make sense of conversation
- needing to be reminded several times a day what was on for that day, forgetting where my husband was or how long he'd be away
It's a delicate balance because your assessment can't be based on self reported symptoms, yet there are no tests that really show how we are affected. It's helpful if you have a partner or friend who can verify what you're saying and if the doctor takes what you say seriously and can document it in a way that satisfies Centrelink criteria.
In Australia a GP expects to spend about 5 minutes with you. It would be wise to spend your first appointment not expecting them to fill out paperwork but simply discussing your move to Australia and the need to find local medical care, and being prepared to book a long appointment for the paperwork. Unless you can get your NZ doctor to fill in the application, I don't know whether Centrelink wants an Australian Doctor.
Centrelink likes to see an established relationship with the doctor who fills out your documentation. They ask how many times the doctor has seen you in the past year.
