Change your nominated treating doctor in NSW
The doctor who runs your claim is your choice. Moving that choice to our clinic takes one call.
- You choose your own nominated treating doctor under the NSW scheme; your employer and the insurer do not choose for you.
- Changing doctors does not restart or jeopardise your claim; your new doctor takes over the Certificate of Capacity from the next review date.
- We request your file and notify the insurer; you make one call and bring your last certificate.
The choice of doctor is yours to make
This is the part of the NSW scheme most people are never told about, and it is the part that decides how the rest of the claim feels.
In the New South Wales workers compensation scheme, the doctor at the centre of your claim is called your nominated treating doctor. They assess the injury, write and renew your Certificate of Capacity, refer you into physiotherapy or psychology, and speak to the insurer about what you can safely do at work. It is the single most consequential relationship in the claim, and you choose your nominated treating doctor — your employer does not choose for you, and neither does the insurer.
That choice is not a one-off. If the arrangement is not working for you, you can nominate a different doctor and carry on. There is no application to fill in, no waiting period, and nobody whose approval you need first. You ring the clinic you want to move to, and the clinic does the rest.
Source: SIRA, Standard of practice: nominated treating doctor — sira.nsw.gov.au.
The reasons workers give us for switching
Almost all of them come down to access — being able to get in, get seen, and get the paperwork done without taking another day off.
Getting an appointment
A certificate has to be renewed on a rhythm, and a practice with a long waiting list makes that rhythm hard to keep. We hold capacity for claim reviews specifically so the renewal appointment is there when the certificate needs it.
Distance and travel
People move house, change job sites, or find that the practice they first attended is nowhere near where they now spend their week. We run appointments across Sydney, with telehealth reviews for workers elsewhere in NSW.
Everything under one roof
Our doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and rehabilitation team work from one file and one plan, so a referral does not mean starting again somewhere else and repeating the whole story.
None of that is a comment on the practice you are leaving. It is about what you can reach. Workers compensation is an appointment-heavy scheme with paperwork attached to a calendar, and the practical questions — how far is it, when can I get in, who handles the form — turn out to matter more than anything else over the months a claim runs.
What we offer is access to doctors who work in the scheme every day, so the certificate is written correctly the first time and the insurer has what it needs without a round of back-and-forth. That is the whole pitch. If you want to read more about the role first, our workers compensation doctor page covers what happens at a first appointment.
How the switch works, in three steps
One phone call from you. The transfer paperwork is ours to handle.
You call us and tell us where the claim is up to
Our reception team takes your claim number, your insurer, the date of injury and the date your current certificate runs to. That last one matters most — we book the new appointment so the certificate does not lapse in between.
We request your file and notify the insurer
With your consent, we request your records from the previous practice and let the insurer know who your nominated treating doctor now is. You do not have to make that call, and you do not have to explain your decision to anybody.
You come in, and the claim carries on
Bring your last certificate. Our doctor reads the history, examines you, and takes over the Certificate of Capacity from the next review date. Your next review is booked before you leave.
What happens to your certificate and your payments
The short answer: nothing stops, provided the certification does not lapse while you are between appointments.
Changing doctors does not restart your claim. The claim number, the accepted injury, the correspondence already on the insurer’s file and any treatment already approved all carry over. Weekly payments are made against a current Certificate of Capacity, so the only real risk in a switch is a gap in certification — and that is a scheduling problem, not a legal one. We book the first appointment inside the period your current certificate still covers, which is why we ask for that date on the phone.
Your new doctor does not have to agree with everything in the old certificate, and does not have to contradict it either. They examine you, form their own view of what you can safely do, and certify from the next review date on that basis. If your capacity has genuinely changed since the last certificate, the new one says so, and the insurer is told through the normal channel.
Treatment already approved by the insurer — physiotherapy, psychology, imaging — stays approved. Where a referral needs to be reissued under the new treating doctor, we handle that administratively rather than sending you back to the start of a queue.
What it costs
On accepted claims, your appointments are billed to the WorkCover insurer, not to you. If your claim has not been accepted yet, we will tell you what applies before you are seen.
What to bring to the first appointment
If a couple of these are missing, come anyway — most of it arrives with your file.
Your last certificate
Please bring your last certificate — it tells our doctor what has been certified so far and what the insurer has already been told.
Claim number and insurer
The claim number and the name of the insurer handling it. Both are printed on any letter you have received about the claim.
Scans and reports
Any X-ray, ultrasound, CT or MRI reports, plus letters from any other treating doctor or hospital if you have them on hand.
Medication and ID
A list of what you are currently taking, including anything prescribed for pain or sleep, and photo identification.
Changing your WorkCover doctor — common questions
The questions workers ask our reception team before they make the move.
Talk to us first
Not sure whether now is the right time to switch?
Send us where the claim is up to and our team will come back to you with what the change would actually involve in your situation. If you would rather talk it through, the call costs nothing.
Call (02) 7238 7379Ask about switching
Related reading
Certificate of Capacity
What the certificate decides, what a good one contains, and what happens when one lapses.
Read moreContinueWorkers compensation doctor
What our doctors do inside the NSW scheme and how a first appointment runs.
Read moreContinueBook a WorkCover doctor
Appointments across Sydney and telehealth reviews for the rest of NSW.
Read moreOne call moves your care across
Tell us your claim number and the date your current certificate runs to. We request your file and notify the insurer, and book you in before it lapses.
Call (02) 7238 7379