Psychiatric injury: what to expect at the Medical Assessment Tribunal?

When your Workcover claim comes to an end, WorkCover must have your psychiatric injury assessed by the Medical Assessment Tribunal.

It’s important to appreciate that there is a different process for physical injuries and for psychiatric injuries. For your physical injuries, WorkCover can send you to an appropriate specialist (for example an orthopaedic surgeon or an occupational physician), they will examine you and provide an assessment report to WorkCover. For the psychiatric injury, WorkCover will first send you to a psychiatrist. If the psychiatrist believes that the injuries are “stable and stationary” then the next step is that an appointment will be made for you with the Medical Assessment Tribunal (“MAT”). Once the MAT has completed its assessment, it will report back to WorkCover and only once the MAT report is received can WorkCover close your claim.

[2026 update: increasingly often, after WorkCover refers a claim for assessment to the MAT, after a few weeks the MAT returns the assessment to WorkCover stating that the referral was incomplete and needs to be resubmitted. This causes delays. If this happens to you, know that this is not your fault. In most cases WorkCover rectifies the situation by correcting the referral – in which case the delay is “only” a few weeks. In some cases it takes longer.]

MAT is not a court

Even though it is called a tribunal, the MAT is not a court. Rather, it is simply a panel of three specialists (in this case psychiatrists) who are there to assess the nature and extent of your injuries during your appointment.

Preparing for the appointment

These days, MAT appointments are held either by video or in-person. It’s important that when you receive your invitation to the MAT appointment, you check whether it’s a video or in-person appointment.

In either case, please note that you are entitled to have a support person with you. This can be your lawyer, a friend or anyone who you think can be supportive. The support person can make submissions at the beginning and at the end of the appointment but in most cases, this is not necessary.

What questions will be asked at the appointment?

Usually, one of the doctors will ask some introductory questions, and then one of the other doctors will go into more detail.

Introductory questions

The first few questions will probably be about your current psychological treatment. For example, do you currently have a psychologist, how often you have sessions, and do you find it useful? They will also ask if you are currently taking any medication.

The reason these introductory questions are important is because your answers will give an indication as to whether you have a real and ongoing psychological injury.

They will also ask you about your consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. If you do consume any of these, they will ask how much and whether you consume them alone or in the company of others.

They will also ask you about your work. They will ask if you are currently at work, or if not, when was the last time you worked and what are your plans in relation to the future? They will also ask what is the main reason that prevents you from returning to work. This may be the physical pain that you are experiencing (if you had a physical injury) or alternatively, it may be purely for psychological reasons.

The MAT will also ask as part of the introductory questions about your current living arrangements. They will want to know where you live and with whom. If you live with family members, the MAT will probably ask what your family members do for a living, or in the case of children, if they go to school and where.

More detailed questions

After the introduction, you will be asked a series of more detailed questions that apply specifically to the condition which you may be suffering from.

One area which they will probably be interested in is your mood. They will want to know how you have felt over the last few months, about your self-esteem, whether you have anxiety, whether you are particularly sad and whether you have had any particularly negative thoughts, such as that life is not worth living.

They will also ask about your personal care such as your hygiene, whether you are able to wash yourself alone, whether you exercise and what are the sorts of things you do around the house.

There will be questions about your social circumstances, especially whether you go out with friends or family and if so, how often and what you do on those occasions.

They will also ask you questions in relation to how you get around and whether you have private transport or whether you rely on public transport and whether you can use public transport.

There will be questions about your relationships. If you have a partner, the MAT will want to know if the relationship is healthy, or whether it is strained due to your injuries. They will want to know if there is any talks of separation, or whether perhaps separation has already occurred. The MAT will also want to find out about your relationship with your children.

Finally, there may also be questions in relation to your finances, whether you are in charge of your everyday banking and whether you are generally able to manage your finances and your appointments.

After the appointment

After the appointment with the MAT you will probably feel exhausted given that the appointment will likely go for about 45 minutes to an hour and there will be a whole range of questions that you will have answered.

Within approximately 10 business days of the appointment, the MAT will report to WorkCover, and the report will be made available to you.