Usually sign it yourself
Discover Scuba, Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, specialties and refreshers. You only need a doctor if your answers say so.
Medical requirements
What you need before you get in the water
What your course needs
Everyone fills in a diver medical form. Whether a doctor has to sign it depends on your answers and the kind of course you are doing.
Always signed by a doctor
Every tec course, open circuit and CCR, even if you answer no to every question.
Always signed by a doctor
Divemaster, Assistant Instructor, the IDC and tec instructor courses, whatever your answers.
For every course
The medical form
PADI courses use the Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire: a few pages of yes or no questions about your health, with a page at the back for a doctor if you need one.
The form is revised from time to time, so we link to PADI’s copy rather than keeping our own. Download a fresh one rather than using a copy you saved earlier. On PADI’s page, look for All PADI Courses – Divers Medical Questionnaire and Medical Statement.
Bubblemaker and Seal Team have their own forms, on the same PADI page.
Usually sign it yourself
Recreational courses
Discover Scuba, Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, specialties and refreshers. Most people sign the form themselves and need nothing else.
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Fill in the form
Answer every question honestly. If you answer no to all of them, sign it yourself and you are done.
Some yes answers only send you to a box of follow-up questions. If you answer no to all of those, you can still sign it yourself.
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A yes marked * means a doctor
Answer yes to any question marked with an asterisk (*) and a doctor has to sign the form before you dive.
The easiest way is a phone consultation with a diving doctor at DDRC Healthcare, who can sign you off remotely.
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Need to be seen in person?
The phone service isn’t for everyone. DDRC currently ask divers over 60, or with a condition such as asthma, high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, to be seen in person, and the phone doctor may ask the same.
If so, take the form to your GP, or find a doctor who does diving medicals on the UK Diving Medical Committee’s list.
Sort this out as soon as you book. We can’t let anyone in the water, pool sessions included, until their form is complete, and an in-person appointment can take a while to get.
The doctor should only tick Approved or Not approved. PADI has to treat a form with conditions or comments added as not approved.
Always signed by a doctor
Technical courses
Every tec course, open circuit and CCR, needs the form signed by a doctor within the last 12 months, even if you answer no to every question.
The routes are the same as for recreational courses: a DDRC phone consultation, or your GP if you need to be seen in person. An in-date HSE medical counts too.
Always signed by a doctor
Professional courses
These courses need the form signed by a doctor within the last 12 months, whatever your answers:
- Divemaster
- Assistant Instructor
- Instructor Development Course (IDC)
- Tec instructor courses
For other instructor courses, such as Specialty Instructor, check with us when you book.
The routes are the same: a DDRC phone consultation, or your GP if you need to be seen in person.
Working in diving in the UK? Get an HSE medical
If you work in diving in the UK, as a divemaster or instructor, employed or self-employed, you need a certificate of medical fitness to dive from an HSE Approved Medical Examiner of Divers. It is a legal requirement under the Diving at Work Regulations, and lasts up to 12 months.
An in-date HSE medical also counts as a doctor’s sign-off for any of our courses. So if you are going pro and plan to work in the UK, get the HSE medical first and it covers both.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the RSTC medical?
It is the form that replaced it. The RSTC Medical Statement gave way to the Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire in 2020, and that is what PADI and other training agencies use now. Plenty of people still call it the RSTC medical.
What if I’m not sure how to answer a question?
Answer honestly, and if in doubt, ask a doctor. The form itself says that if you have any concerns about your fitness to dive, even ones it does not ask about, you should see a doctor before diving. We can tell you what your course needs, but questions about a medical condition are one for a doctor.
I already have an HSE medical. Do I need anything else?
As long as it is in date, it counts as a doctor’s sign-off for any of our courses, so you don’t need a doctor to sign the form as well. Just show us the certificate.
Not sure what you need?
Call us and we will tell you what your course needs.