Section 54(2)(b) of the SRCA provides that a claim form must be accompanied by a 'certificate by a legally qualified medical practitioner' and deems (S54(3)) that a claim has not been made until this certificate is provided. The purpose of the certificate is obviously to demonstrate that the employ — e — e does indeed suffer from an 'injury', i.e. a named medical condition. Note that such a certificate does not need to be provided with an ADF claim. Such evidence will be gathered from the claimant's ADF medical file, or the delegate may require such a cer — t — ificate during the investigation process. Claims should not be rejected at first instance on the grounds of no medical certificate with claim.
In most RCG compensation cases, the medical records relevant to the claim are not in the employee's possession b — ut are the property of the ADF, i.e. the employer. Delegates should be aware that full-time serving ADF members are not permitted to access medical assistance other than through the ADF Health Service so that any injury whilst serving could not be recorde — d anywhere else other than the employee's medical file.
Because RCG is in fact the ADF's insurer, these records are deemed to be already in RCG's possession.