Useful Management Information

  • Refer the mother to Community Child Health nurse if not already in contact.
  • Skilled breastfeeding support is an integral part of the management of breastfeeding difficulties: The Period of Purple Crying
  • If you have a reason to suspect a child in Queensland is experiencing harm, or is at risk of experiencing harm, you need to contact Child Safety Services

Minimum Referral Criteria

Does your patient meet the minimum referral criteria?
Category 1 (appointment within 30 calendar days)
  • Maternal depression
  • Significant vomiting
  • Poor weight gain/ weight loss
  • High level of maternal or infant distress.
  • Infant < 6 months
Category 2 (appointment within 90 calendar days)
  • Thriving child > 6 months
Category 3 (appointment within 365 calendar days)
  • No category 3 criteria

If your patient does not meet the minimum referral criteria

  • Assessment and management information may be found on a range of conditions at HealthPathways
  • If the patient does not meet the criteria for referral but the referring practitioner believes the patient requires specialist review, a clinical override may be requested:
    • Please explain why (e.g. warning signs or symptoms, clinical modifiers, uncertain about diagnosis, etc.)
  • Please note that your referral may not be accepted or may be redirected to another service

Essential Referral Information

  • Age of onset of irritability
  • Report presence or absence of concerning features
    • Frequent daily vomiting
    • Blood in stools
    • Irritability has no day/night variation with persistent screaming overnight and in the mornings as well as afternoon/evenings
    • Weight loss or failure to gain weight
    • Diagnosed or suspected maternal depression
    • Inappropriate interaction or attribution to the baby by the mother – anger or resentment towards the infant.
    • Developmental delay

Additional Referral Information

Highly desirable information – may change triage category

  • Description of pattern of irritability including relation to feeding. Does the infant sleep at night?
  • Is there difficulty feeding? Breast or bottle feeding or both.
  • Height/weight/head circumference and growth charts with prior measurements if available. Comment on whether the child is gaining weight appropriately or not.
  • Has the mother been to see a child health nurse or had other parenting assistance?
  • Pregnancy and birth history, including if premature birth.
  • Medical history.
  • Developmental history
  • Family history (especially infantile irritability, previous children with food intolerance)
  • Significant psychosocial risk factors (especially parents mental health, family violence, housing and financial stress, department of child safety involvement)

Desirable Information- will assist at consultation

  • Other past medical history
  • Immunisation history
  • Medication history
  • Other physical examination findings inclusive of CNS, birth marks or dysmorphology.
  • Any relevant laboratory results or medical imaging reports
Last updated 7 October 2021

Send Referrals To

Smart Referrals

Preferred Method
About Smart Referrals

Secure Web Transfer

Send to: Gold Coast Health Service District

Internal Referrals

Paediatric Medicine (E-Blueslips)

Fax

(07) 5687 4497

Post

Paediatric Referral Centre
Gold Coast University Hospital
1 Hospital Boulevard
Southport QLD 4215

Enquiries

1300 744 284

Related HealthPathways

No directly related pathways found

Service Availability

Dr Susan Moloney
Medical Director Paediatric Medicine (General Paediatrics)

Facilities

Gold Coast University Hospital

If you would like to send a named referral, please address it to the specialist listed above, who will allocate a suitably qualified specialist to see the patient. Alternatively, you can view a full list of our specialists.

Child Safety

If you have a reason to suspect a child in Queensland is experiencing harm, or is at risk of experiencing harm, contact Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Services . Please consider if mandatory reporting applies.

Gold Coast Health - For Clinicians
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