New Patients- Referral to a Subspecialist
New Patient Referrals to an associated subspecialist.
Books Closed
Paediatric Endocrinologist Dr Jessica Harbison.
Dr Harbison’s books are now closed.
She is closing her private practice and will finish consulting at the beginning of October 2025 as she is taking up extra work at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in her special interest.
Books Open
Paediatric Neurologist Dr Romain Briest
Dr Briest’s wait time is approximately 8 months for non-urgent appointments.
Older patients, especially those aged 17 or more, may wish to consider referral to an adult neurologist. Wait times may be less than for the paediatric subspecialist, especially for relatively less urgent concerns.
Neonatologist (infants to about two years of age) Dr Lydia Kennedy.
Dr Kennedy’s wait time for non-urgent appointments is about 3 months
These subspecialists request that referrals and other patient correspondence is sent by Secure Messaging.
Reserves are kept in their appointment books for more urgent referrals.
New Patient Intake Steps for referrals to the subspecialists:
The Referral is sent to the subspecialist
Your referrer sends a valid, detailed and comprehensive referral to the associated subspecialist, nominating them by
name or
their specialty (paediatric neurologist, paediatric endocrinologist or neonatologist).
Referrals must be sent through Secure Messaging (Healthlink, etc.).
2. You submit the Appointment Request Form.
To do so, you will have reviewed the policies, especially regarding Privacy, Communication & Contact, Respect & Trust and ensured you are happy to proceed in accordance with them. You can review these in the website menu “Policies” and in the policies summary.
3. The nominated subspecialist reviews your child’s referral in the next several weeks and will either
DECLINE the referral and notify the referrer.
ACCEPT the referral and
TRIAGE it to decide on the level of need for priority when offering earlier appointments that may become available.
OFFER AN APPOINTMENT.
4. If the referral is accepted, we, on behalf of the subspecialist, offer you an appointment.
The offer is for the next available appointment and a place on the cancellation list.
We will send an SMS, and if we have your email address, we will also send a Booking Offer Email. This details the offered appointment and advises the link to our webpage explaining how to accept this offer.
5. You must then accept the offered appointment within seven days by submission of the requested forms.
Having carefully reviewed the policies, terms and conditions of the appointment and healthcare relationship offer, and decided that you are happy to proceed in accordance with these, you complete and submit
6. If not accepted within seven days, the Appointment Offer will be withdrawn, and the intake process for your child will be closed. If you decline or do not accept this offer but wish to consider a further appointment offer, please advise us by email.
How do Appointments become available to New Patients?
The Doctors’ appointment books have reserved times for various needs, including urgent patients. If these times are no longer needed or families cancel their appointments, we may then offer the time to new patients. Sometimes, these appointments become available at quite short notice.
We take great care to avoid appointments being wasted and to bring appointments forward wherever possible. Generally, we expect to move many appointments forward, a little or a lot, depending on urgency, over the next several years.
Cancellation Offer Procedure
If an appointment is offered and accepted, your child will be placed on the Cancellation List.
Your Provider’s Fees:
We routinely send you a link to your doctor's fee schedule in your Booking Emails. Providers do not offer bulk billing, and fees must be paid on the day immediately following your child’s appointment. Information about your provider’s fee policies is linked here: fee payment, bookings, fees & cancellations, and Medicare rebates.
Please ensure you understand and accept these requirements, terms and conditions if you wish to accept an appointment.
Concerns regarding Fees:
As a private practice, services are funded only by patient fees. Your fees allow us to work efficiently to help your doctor provide excellent, enhanced continuity of care with budgets that are substantially less than those provided by the government in the public system. Medicare provides substantial assistance, but we understand that some families will prefer or need to seek free public health or lower-cost services. If so, ask your GP, as soon as possible, to redirect the referral to the appropriate public paediatric health service for your area, whether that is the Women's and Children's, Flinders, Lyell McEwin or Modbury Hospitals or a lower-cost private service. Bulk billing and concessions cannot, unfortunately, be offered.
Appointments with longer wait times may be cancelled later.
Your paediatrician may unexpectedly need to delay or cancel your child’s appointment due to illness or other circumstances or may unexpectedly close their private practice at Prosper Paediatrics. In this circumstance, other associated doctors may be able to offer an appointment, but there may be further delay, or an appointment may no longer be possible.
To request an appointment with one of the associated subspecialists,
ensure your GP has sent a referral to them by Secure Messaging
please complete and submit the Request Appointment Form: