Getting a Doctors Certificate for Illness a Month Ago

I'm currently doing a teaching prac for university and about a month ago I took a day off sick with vomiting and diarrhea. I was unable to get to a doctors on the day of being sick (Friday) and my regular GP was closed on the weekend. I didn't think to go to a medical centre to get a doctors certificate.

Its now almost a month since I was off sick and I have just remembered I didn't get a doctors certificate. The university requires one for any absence from my teaching prac.

Can a doctor provide a medical certificate for an illness that occurred in the past? The information I find online is conflicting.

Comments

  • TBH I think either go to a GP and ask or speak with someone at the uni. Otherwise I’m thinking that prob you’re going to find the same on here, conflicting thoughts and opinions.

    My thinking is that no, I can’t see a GP doing that b/c they didn’t assess you at that time, I mean there might be some extenuating circumstances where if you see someone regularly and you saw them a few days later or something and they can gauge that you were probably sick earlier based on how you presented but a month later I don’t know how they’d be able to say you were ill?

    It’s a crappy situation though and it’s definitely tricky b/c you don’t want to take too much time off of your prac and if you’re too crook to go to a GP it’s tough. Maybe reach out to someone at Uni and plead your case? I can imagine this ain’t the first time this happened? Edit; in general not you specifically.

    • +2

      It’s a crappy situation

      It was, but he's better now?

  • +1

    If you have a regular GP, as you say you have, you might have a chance if the absence is something they were aware of.

    Most bulk billable GP isnt going to get involved with 4 week old sick leave.

    However uni drs can be a bit notorious for sick certs…

    You could try a stat dec if allowed.

  • +1
  • +1

    Do a Statutory Decleration instead.

  • Ethically there is no way a doctor can give you a certificate. But one day off- sheesh, that shoudn't be a problem after you explain. Got any witnesses to the fact you were ill on the day?

    • My wife would be the only witness. Not sure if they would accept her testimony

  • have seen a similar situation where someone went to a doctor for illness a couple of weeks in the past like this and came out with a medical certificate for the day that basically said "patient says they were sick on this date" so was done in retrospect, but only on the patients word. I'm not sure of the rules or ethics of this, but may be worth a shot if needed and you have a regular doc.
    good luck, dealing with uni red tape is no fun.

  • Sort of like a postmortem?

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