Psychiatric Impairment Assessment Guidelines

In reply to the Hon. T.A. FRANKS (31 October 2019).

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): I have been provided the following advice:

Psychiatric impairment in the Return to Work scheme is assessed using the Guide to the Evaluation of Psychiatric Impairment for Clinicians (GEPIC) as published in the Impairment Assessment Guidelines.

The GEPIC assessment methodology involves the evaluation of six mental functions: thinking, perception, judgement, mood, behaviour and intelligence.

Intelligence relates to an individual's capacity for understanding and other forms of adaptive behaviour. Impairments of intelligence can be a consequence of brain injury or disease. However, in the majority of work injury assessments there is no impairment of intelligence.

In answer to your second question, there have been no assessments in the registered scheme with an assessment rating of between 3 and 5 for the mental function of intelligence.