Can only a paediatrician refer us?!

Ive not had a great morning, went to the Dr and basically got the run around and came back empty handed.

Can a paediatrician only do a referral to an allergist now? What about for follow up testing? Can a paed only do a follow up referral also?

We went to our GP this morning for a referral to an allergist and was told that she didnt have his records of the testing previously done and that we would have to find the allergist letter and she would then look into it from there. Then after we walked out of the office she comes over and tells us that she couldnt refer us onto the allergist anyway because it has to be done with a paed now?

So now I have to find the original documentation to prove to her that he has the allergies (until this point she accepted what I had to say about them though go figure) and get another appointment with her to refer us onto a paed to wait 12 months for an appointment with them, to get a referral to an allergist to wait another 12 months for that. ??

This is so frustrating :wall: If I knew this was going to be the case I would have started a lot sooner, given that we were told not to add nuts or anything until he was retested :wall:

so does DS need allergy testing to be redone? have you rung your local childrens hospital to go through there programs?
DD is having allergy testing done tomorrow with a paed and i got the referal through my GP

I got a referral to an allergist from my GP so I dont think you need to go through a paed.

From the looks of this result slip Im holding his original allergy testing was done around 12 months old. We had the referral for that straight after his reaction at christmas, so that was at least a 6 month wait going from straight GP to allergist.

I was told at the initial testing with the allergist that he would have to come back and be retested as he got older as we were to avoid any types of nuts at this stage and to keep challenging him with small amounts of well cooked egg (in things like cake etc). We never heard anything more from them, and by the time we get through the system (based on the previous wait) it will have been two years.

We werent informed of any programs with the childrens hospital at the time? Should we have been?

I dont understand why this has become such an issue with this GP :dunno: :(

double post sorry.

I have always had referral from gp.

I go to a private allergist tho. But your gp can do it for both private and a program at your childrens hospital. Tho the hospital may/ may not take longer.

Once my ds1 had his first test I get a letter every 12 months for repeat testing (to remind me) they automatically rebook. Most allergists should if they require further tests.

I'd see another gp??

i should have said im also going private.
what state are you in?
cant you just ring back where you went last time and ask them what the procedure is for retesting? you might not need a referal

I got a referal from our GP, but that was probably about 10 months ago now.

It sounds very strange having to go to a Paed for a referal???

Janie xxx

Thanks for the replies, I might try calling them directly tomorrow and failing that seek a second opinion. :)

Well I rang the allergy clinic direct this morning and no i definately do not have to have a referal from a pead. A GP referal will surfice and then its only so we can get the medicare rebate. :wall: Im not very happy at all with our GP's response to this matter and now am deciding if I go back with what I know and try to get the referal from her again, or seek a second opinion on the entire matter.