Medical circumstances

You can apply for special circumstances for medical reasons if you’ve experienced an acute serious illness, injury, or a mental health condition that made it impracticable for you to successfully complete the unit requirements.

You need to provide a letter from a doctor, counsellor or medical professional which outlines the impact of your medical condition on your ability to study. The letter must verify that the impact of your medical condition has changed to such an extent that you are unable to complete your unit requirements successfully. The letter should include:

  • the date your condition began and/or changed
  • a professional opinion on how the condition made it impracticable for you to complete your study requirements (e.g, you were unable to attend classes, sit a final assessment, or complete an assignment).
  • when it became apparent that you couldn’t complete your unit requirements successfully, and
  • the duration of the impact on your ability to study.

If your medical letter of support is backdated, it must:

  • certify that your medical professional consulted with you during the specific period of reported impact outlined in your application, or
  • include an explanation of how your medical professional determined your condition (e.g., through specialist reports or clinical markers) if they did not see you during the actual time you were impacted.

If you’re applying for special circumstances for consecutive teaching periods, your evidence must:

  • justify your decision to continue your studies, or enrol in further study, despite your prior circumstances.
  • explain what changed or unexpectedly worsened in the current period.
  • outline any proactive steps, medical advice or management strategies you followed to mitigate the impact and why these steps were ultimately insufficient.

Acceptable medical documentation

Your medical documentation must:

  • be from an AHPRA-registered health practitioner or a social worker accredited with the AASW;
  • be provided by a health practitioner whose expertise relates to your diagnosis and treatment; and
  • include your provider details: name, practice address, contact details, and AHPRA registration number or social worker registration number.

Acceptable documentation must be from an in-person consultation (or video/phone consultation if attending in-person was impractical).

Medical documentation issued without a consultation with a health practitioner won’t be accepted.