Allergy and Immunology

Appointments are made once the referral has been reviewed by a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner and allocated an appropriate triage code (categorisation of urgency). This is based on the clinical information received. You will then receive a letter indicating that your child is on the waiting list. Wait times vary depending on the allergy problem.

All referrals are sent to an administration area, sorted and then sent to the department. You can call the Admin Hub on 8161 6095 or 8161 7399 to check if your referral has been received.

Yes, there are quite a few Paediatric Allergists and Immunologists in the community. Please speak to your GP about this or refer to https://www.allergy.org.au/pat... for further details.

Please make an appointment with your referring doctor and ask them to update your referral. Our administrative staff cannot take information over the phone about clinical symptoms.

Please call us as soon as possible and we will remove your child’s name from our waiting list. This allows an appointment for another child.

If your child is unexpectedly sick or you have another reason to cancel please inform us as soon as possible which will allow us to use the appointment for another child. There may be an extended waiting time until we can reschedule your appointment due to demand.

No and there are a few reasons for this. Attending an appointment with an unwell child puts our staff and the other patients at risk. We also cannot perform skin prick testing for food allergy if your child is unwell as this increases the risk of an allergic reaction to the testing. If you are unsure if your child is too unwell to attend please call us.

If your child has taken an antihistamine within three days of sin prick testing your appointment will need to be cancelled as antihistamines do interfere with our testing.

Your child will be weighed and measured and then called in to see the Doctor or Nurse Practitioner. We will ask you about symptoms, current medications and previous test results if you have been seen elsewhere.

Food Allergy: We can test for common foods but you may need to bring along less common foods for testing. Please ring us for advice if you are unsure.

Drug Allergy – we require details of all previous drugs taken, any symptoms and how soon they started and how long they lasted. We usually send out a request for further information to you prior to the appointment.

Immunodeficiency – we will require a full medical history that includes information about previous infections and any inherited immune system disorders in the family. Blood tests are usually required as part of the investigations.

Clinics may not be running on time so please allow up to 2 hours for your appointment.

If the problem is for hay fever, anaphylaxis, food allergy or eczema where food is thought to be a contributing factor then your child will likely need a skin prick test. This involves a nurse placing an extract on the back or forearm and then pricking through this into the top layer of the skin. After 15 minutes a wheal (small lump) may have developed in response to the allergen. This is then measured and the Doctor or Nurse Practitioner will interpret the test in conjunction with your child’s clinical history. The test is not painful but is itchy and can cause distress in younger children.

Children attending the drug allergy clinic or immunodeficiency clinic do not require skin prick testing but may require a blood test. Your doctor will discuss this with you.

If we have not seen your child we cannot provide these. Your referring doctor (GP or Paediatrician) can complete these and can call us for advice if required.

If you are an existing patient you can get your EpiPen prescription and Action plan from your GP as continuing supply (EpiPen) and by printing off an Action Plan from www.allergy.org.au.