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Sonic HealthPlus employs over 1,000 professionals across the country, from a wide range of backgrounds.

Regardless of where you work or what job you do, the one thing we all have in common is the want to do a great job, help out our clients, provide the best possible service and have some fun along the way.

We abide by a strong set of values which defines us as an employer and you as an employee.

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GCD Opportunities

Join Sonic HealthPlus’ Government-contracted Doctors Network

Opportunities with Sonic HealthPlus

Sonic HealthPlus is providing Disability Medical Assessments on behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Human Services (DHS). To bolster our existing network of Government-contracted Doctors we are looking for practitioners interested in conducting these assessments.

About the Disability Support Pension

Disability Support Pension (DSP) provides financial support for people who have a permanent, physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition that prevents them from working at least 15 hours a week. A Disability Medical Assessment may be conducted as part of a claim for DSP or as part of a DSP medical eligibility review.

Disability Medical Assessments can only be performed by GCDs

About the assessments

Before a customer is referred for a Disability Medical Assessment with a GCD, DHS will complete non-medical eligibility checks (where required). A customer also attends a Job Capacity Assessment (JCA), completed by an allied health professional employed by DHS. A JCA is a comprehensive assessment of the functional impact of a customer’s medical condition on their ability to work.

The Disability Medical Assessment, conducted after a Job Capacity Assessment for some customers, is an independent assessment focusing on the customer’s medical conditions and their functional impact using the Social Security Determination 2011 - Tables for the Assessment of Work Related Impairment for Disability Support Pension (the Impairment Tables).

DHS will use the Disability Medical Assessment, along with other information, to determine a customer’s medical eligibility for DSP. The GCD does not decide whether or not the customer is eligible for DSP.

You will not complete a physical examination of the customer, however, you may ask them to demonstrate activities in line with legislated Impairment Tables, provided it is safe to do so.

You will interview the customer and review the medical evidence provided to form a view on whether the medical condition meets legislated criteria for DSP. You will also use legislated Impairment Tables to assign a rating for the functional impact of the condition.

The GCDs role is not to diagnose a customer’s condition nor to provide any medical advice or treatment to the customer.

The GCD must be independent, ensuring there is no conflict of interest with the customer, e.g. they cannot be the customer’s usual treating doctor nor can they know the customer.

About the support we provide

Practitioners who are interested in performing Disability Medical Assessments, and who meet the criteria below, receive online training to conduct assessments. GCDs also have ongoing access to Sonic HealthPlus Clinical Leads who provide mentoring and practical advice, and who are also available to discuss cases before reports are submitted online to DHS.

To become a GCD, you must have:

  • a current medical practitioner qualification or current qualification to practise as a clinical psychologist
  • full Australian Health Practitioner Registration Authority (AHPRA) registration with no notations, suspensions, or conditions
  • Professional Indemnity Insurance to AHPRA standards
  • no investigations or disciplinary proceedings in Australia or overseas and
  • successfully completed training (via an online portal)

Contact us

If you are interested in joining the Sonic HealthPlus GCD network, please email shpdoctors@scs.com.au and one of our operations team members will contact you.