How Does WorkSafe Work?
Today I’d like to demystify Workcover (now known as Worksafe).
Click on my short 8min video below where I explain how WorkSafe operates.
Let me begin by setting up a typical scenario of 2 types of people who present to the clinic as a Workcover patient.
(1) Jim the chippy who’s got back pain
Jim came into the clinic after he was referred by his local GP for physio management.
2 months earlier he had been having strange pains in the back which also shot down his left leg.
He wasn’t too worried about it because he had ‘on again off again’ back pain for over 15 years as a carpenter.
This time was different – he never had leg pain.
So one day he lifted up some heavy equipment and it set off his back pain and made it worse.
It was so painful that he couldn’t finish off his day at work and told his boss he needed to go see the Doctor.
After the Doctor organised some scans for his back she then referred him to physio.
(2) Janice the admin worker who had a fall in the office
Janice works 40 hours a week managing a small business in the CBD.
She also has 3 kids at home who are now in high school.
6 weeks ago she tripped on a loose cord at work and fell and unfortunately broke her wrist.
After having surgery to fix the break she’s now looking to remove the cast and begin some physiotherapy to help her recover and get back to work.
Although Jim and Janice have different types of jobs the one thing they have in common is that they got injured at work.
Here is my best bit of advice after seeing all sorts of Workcover patients in my 10+ years of experience:
- Report the injury to your immediate supervisor straight away
- Document the injury via the company’s “incident report” or nearest equivalent
- Go see your GP for medical care and request a referral to see your ProPhysio+
- Bring your GP referral, work details, workplace insurance details (if known) and any scan results you have received
Make sure you document the injury via the company’s “incident report” or nearest equivalent!
At ProPhysio+ at the very first appointment we will do all the heavy lifting for you.
We’ll call both the workplace and insurer to introduce ourselves as your physio provider so that we can clarify the Workcover situation.
Once we have organised and verified the Workcover paperwork we can then focus 100% on getting you right!
That’s my short summary on how best to manage yourself with a Workcover claim.
I hope that makes things easier for you and if you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact us!
PS. Keep an eye out for more Workcover related videos as I will have actual patients who will describe how they found us and how ProPhysio+ has helped them!
To your health,
– Leki