• Commonwealth Department of Social Services (retired), Standard 20/06/2018

A condition is permanent if:

(a)  the condition has been fully diagnosed by an appropriately qualified medical practitioner; and

(b)  the condition has been fully treated; and

(c) the condition has been fully stabilised; and

(d) the condition is more likely than not, in light of available evidence, to persist for more than 2 years.

'Diagnosed, treated and stabilised' is defined as:

• a diagnosed condition is one that has been identified by an appropriately qualified medical practitioner by means of the person's symptoms and evidence has been provided to Centrelink
• a condition is considered treated where all reasonable treatment options have been explored and no new treatment will significantly improve the person's functional capacity.
• a condition is considered stabilised, for social security purposes, if all available treatment has been undertaken and a significant functional improvement leading to increased capacity to work is unlikely to occur within the next two years (with or without further treatment).

Assessors will determine the impact of medical conditions identified as fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised (FDTS) in accordance with the Social Security Law for Disability Support Pension (DSP) eligibility, against the following additional FDTS categories:

• at the time of assessment (FDTS baseline), if a job seeker's work capacity at the time of assessment, accounting only for the impact of FDTS medical condition/s, and
• within two years with intervention (FDTS with intervention), if the job seeker's capacity that could be achieved with employment assistance and other interventions within the next two years, independently of an ongoing program of support, accounting only for the impact of FDTS medical conditions .
• when the assessed work capacities against these categories is less than 15 hours per week, the Assessor will conduct an assessment of the fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised medical conditions under the Impairment Tables.

Dependent on the impairment ratings assigned, the Assessor may also be required to consider if the recipient has actively participated in a program of support.

Australian Government Department of Social Services

Recipients can have up to 5 medical conditions. This information is mainly collected for Disability Support Pension recipients.

Australian Government Department of Social Services