Kids Snoring & Adnoids?

[Indadhanu]

We went through this issue at the beginning of the year, and decided to go on the public waiting list. My GP told me the wait was long - 2 months after putting the referral in I got a call from the hospital to say that we were basically put on the "waiting list for the waiting list" and told that it'd likely be an 18 month wait to see a specialist, and another 12 months on top of that for surgery if she needed it. And this was with what my GP described as "quite bad" - recurrent tonsilitis, sleep apnoea, snoring, frequent night waking, and tonsils that are so HUGE that one touched the uvula and the other is almost halfway there and they actually stop her from being able to swallow food properly sometimes!

When the public hospital called it was becoming a huge issue, and I was so frustrated that it was going to be so long for someone to actually look at her. Eventually I went to the GP and got a private referral because I figured at least then she is looked at by a specialist, and the specialist can make the recommendation about whether it was very urgent or not. My plan, depending on the outcome of the consult, was to either wait it out, or get it in writing that it was urgent and get this added to our referral on the pubic list and see if it moved us up the list a bit.

The specialist was shocked at the size of her tonsils! And the list of symptoms we rattled off had him quite concerned. He gave us a few options, including a letter to get us up the list, but we ended up booking with him privately. We *don't* have private health insurance, however we DO have a health Care Card and this has meant that our doctor has classed our DD as an 'intermediate patient' (public hospital, but we are paying for the bed and private dr and anarthetist) and also the dr and the anaethetist has reduced our out-of-pocket fee's accordingly, and our expenses all up (without complication) are less than $1500, and almost $1000 out-of-pocket once we get some back from Medicare. We got in to see the specialist within a fortnight, and the time between initial consult and surgery will be 10 weeks (she is getting her adnoids and tonsils out on Monday).

Also, the intial consult, once we got money back from Medicare, cost us around $60, and I think if this is affordable for you then I'd go on the public waiting list and see how long the wait will be, and then see a private specialist to maybe get bumped up the list if need be.


(I notice may people commenting on short waiting times so I just wanted to comment that we are in South-East Queensland, and are on the waiting list for the Royal Brisbane Children's Hospital. We are in our 8th month of waiting, no news on an appointment yet - not that we need it now - and the person who rang said we'd get at least 6-8 weeks notice of an appointment time, so I am very happy that we decided to go private, because I would be worrying myself sick if we were still waiting on an initial consult with a specialist!)