Preparing for your child’s appointment
Read any Booking Emails we send
-these should be checked and saved for important booking details, referral status, fees and other information and requirements.
A Booking Email is sent each time you make or confirm an appointment.
A Reminder Booking Email is sent 3 business days prior to your child’s appointment.
An SMS is sent about 2 business days before an appointment, asking that you review the Booking Email and confirm you are aware of the appointment. Please reply “Y” to confirm or call or email if you have any questions or need to reschedule. After that time, cancelled appointments are billed.
Appointment duration
New patient appointments: allow at least 60 minutes
Review Appointments: allow at least 45 minutes, though most will take about 30.
Please arrive at least 5 minutes before your appointment, and allow up to an hour for delays, as doctors may run behind schedule and time is needed for reception, booking, and billing. Paediatricians who also provide neonatal care in the hospital may be significantly delayed by unplanned urgent attendances to newborns or by delays in C-sections. If delays are expected to become very long, staff will advise if possible, and rescheduling may sometimes be the best option.
Car parking during 2026-27: Please allow some extra time for parking, as the Burnside Hospital has reduced staff parking due to its new development works on Moore Street.
Plan for your child’s primary and main carer or carers (usually parents) to attend.
The paediatric specialist will need input from those most intimate and familiar with the child. Generally, this will be parents, unless another relative or carer has undertaken the role of parent in the child’s life.
Both parents should attend, if possible.
Whether separated or together, parental cooperation and communication are needed. Generally, if not both attending, please ensure that your child's other parent is kept informed and enabled to participate in their child’s healthcare and contribute to the doctor's assessment and management planning in appointments.
Bring another carer for your child if you would like some time alone with the doctor.
Your child’s attendance to their appointment is required.
Updates and consent forms for parents/guardians and patients aged 16 or older
Consent to Policies:
Please review the policies and complete the linked Consent to Policies form at least once per year while continuing care with an associated paediatrician.
Patient Demographic File
New patients should complete the Demographic Form.
Current patients should advise of any updates to these details, such as a new GP or changes to addresses or phone numbers, parental separation, new privacy concerns, Court Orders regarding parenting, etc.
Patients aged 16 years or more-please complete the Consent to Share with Parent Form
Information about this Consent requirement is provided with the form. Patients aged 16 or older should complete these forms and provide details of at least one parent or other trusted carer to be an Account-Holder, responsible for fee payment each year until discharge from paediatric healthcare, unless legally not required.
Check your referral status.
Ensure that, at least a week prior, the upcoming appointment is covered by a valid referral if you wish to claim the Medicare rebate advised.
A valid and current referral must be on file prior to the commencement of the service for which you wish to claim a rebate. This is the patient’s responsibility.
Do not rely on your GP advising that they have sent the referral. If we have not received and filed it on time, Medicare does not permit reliance on it for lawful claims.
The referral status and the expiry date of the latest referral on file are included in every Booking Email.
Further information is available via this link: Medicare valid referrals.
Send reports, completed questionnaires, forms, or other documents for your provider by email before the day of your appointment.
Please send these as email attachments at least a week before the appointment. If needed, documents can be brought to the appointment. These will be scanned and linked to your child’s file, but this may not be done in time for the appointment.
What to expect from the consultation:
The associated paediatric specialists are skilled in building trust and helping your child feel at ease. They will communicate sensitively regarding your child's development and feelings and assess your child's needs and best interests in line with their professional obligations and judgement. They will speak with, observe and examine your child; ask you and your child (where possible) about their "history" (medical, developmental, social); discuss and consider your expectations, questions and concerns. Following their assessment, they will discuss their diagnosis, which may be provisional or undecided between several (differential) diagnoses. They may recommend a management plan that includes further tests, reviews, therapies, or medications. Often, several appointments are needed.
On the day
Please bring your child’s Blue Book if your child is 7 years or younger
Be ready to pay the fee immediately following the appointment by EFTPOS. Cash cannot be accepted.
Organise to have forms such as Medication Agreements and travel letters completed during the appointment.
During your visit, please
Consider the feelings and needs of staff and other visitors, including young children, and use furniture, fixtures and other items with respect and care.
Practice hand, cough and other hygiene behaviours to limit viral transmission risks.
Have another adult carer for your child if you would like some adult-only discussion with the doctor.
Feel welcome to settle and feed your baby.
Please don't bring to the rooms:
Viruses.
If you or your parent is ill on the day of the appointment or has suffered gastrointestinal symptoms in the previous 48 hours, please contact us before attending. Illnesses such as Influenza, Gastroenteritis, Bronchiolitis, RSV and COVID-19 can pose very serious risks, especially to infants, small children and other immunocompromised people who may be exposed in the practice. If providers become ill, care for babies and children can be disrupted. Your doctor may require you to attend via Video or reschedule. Video appointment details are set out above.
Food, drinks, loud games, or any small toys or other items that could pose a choking hazard to small children.
Apart from water, or formula or breastmilk for your baby, please plan to eat a snack or meal at home or in a nearby park or cafe before or after the appointment.
Food and beverage spillage and soiling create:
very significant extra cleaning costs;
infection risk for a range of bacteria and viruses such as Gastroenteritis, RSV Bronchiolitis, Covid 19;
allergen risks.
Things left behind.
Sometimes families leave things behind, such as a toy or an item of clothing.
Storage space is tight; unfortunately, we cannot hold onto items left behind indefinitely.
We will try to contact you, but if you have left something behind, please arrange to collect it within a few days. If not collected within a week, we must, regretfully, dispose of the item or donate it to charity. In our experience, very few left-behind items are ever inquired about or collected.