PAEDIATRICS

PAEDIATRICS

What is Paediatric Medicine?


Paediatrics at Auckland Medical Specialists is a comprehensive, general and subspecialty paediatric service for your child. We pride ourselves in high standards of specialty paediatric medical care with all of our specialists having public appointments at Starship Hospital.

We have close links with paediatric surgical services as well as allied health professionals in the Auckland community enabling multidisciplinary care of even the most complex issues.

We look forward to being of assistance in the medical care of your child whether that be for a one-off consultation or ongoing medical followup.

About Paediatric Endocrinology

Dr Fran Mouat welcomes referrals for children and adolescents up to the age of 18 years requiring specialist care in any area of Endocrinology including but not limited to the following:
•    Growth
•    Puberty
•    Diabetes
•    Obesity and the metabolic syndrome
•    Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
•    Thyroid, parathyroid and calcium disorders
•    Pituitary and Adrenal 

About Paediatric Gastroenterology

This service provides assessment, diagnosis, treatment and long term follow-up for infants, children and adolescents with a wide range of gastrointestinal and liver conditions.

Gastroenterology is the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the stomach, small and large bowel and the pancreas. This includes a wide range of symptoms and disorders such as - but not limited to:

  • Coeliac Disease

  • Persistent constipation

  • Eosinophilic Oesophagitis

  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease

  • Gastro-oesphageal Reflux

  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome

  • Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerance

  • Chronic Diarrhoea

  • Vomiting

  • Recurrent Abdominal Pain

  • Rectal bleeding

  • Difficulty in swallowing

  • Gastritis

  • Gastrointestinal Infections

  • Gut Motility Issues

  • Nutritional Concerns

Hepatology is the branch of medicine that is concerned with diseases of the liver. Such disorders include but are not limited to:

  • Viral Hepatitis

  • Auto-immune Hepatitis

  • (Non-alcoholic) Fatty Liver Disease

Paediatric endoscopy includes gastroscopy and colonoscopy. These are routine procedures done as a day stay case under very safe general anaesthesia. Indications could be for ruling out coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease or inflammation in the oesophagus (gullet) or stomach. Dr Simon Chin and Dr Amin Roberts both do their endoscopy procedures at Ormiston Hospital, 125 Ormiston Road, Flat Bush, Auckland

About Genetics - Paediatrics

Dr Patrick Yap works closely with Geneticists and Genetic Counsellors both in the public and private settings. He welcomes all referrals related to the diagnosis, genetic testing and risk management of genetic conditions in patients and their families. All referrals will be assessed for suitability to be seen in private practice. Referrals that require Genetic Counsellor’s expertise will be re-directed to Genetic Counsellors that offer private service in other locations. Some referrals may be best managed within the public healthcare system through Genetic Health Services New Zealand. For more information, please see https//www.genetichealthservice.org.nz/for-patients

Please note that the cost of genetic testing in private is not covered by most medical/health insurance policies in New Zealand.



About Paediatric Respiratory Medicine

Dr Naveen Pillarisetti deals with a wide variety of respiratory problems in children and has the clinical experience, technical expertise and collegial support to manage these conditions. Included in this are:

Lung disease - it is increasingly recognised that lung disease in early childhood needs to be diagnosed and managed early because if untreated it could lead to on-going lung disease in adulthood.

Chronic cough - a child with a chronic cough may reflect more worrying underlying conditions such as suppurative lung disease and bronchiectasis. If diagnosed early these conditions can be managed effectively and potentially reversed.

Asthma - poorly controlled asthma may lead to a poor quality of life and a potential severe episode could lead to hospitalisation so it is important to diagnose and manage asthma well.

General paediatrics - appointments

All appointments for general paediatrics are 60 minutes unless there is particular complexity such as second opinions, complex medical conditions (ie chronic pain, significant feeding difficulties, multiple medical issues etc), which may require a 90-120 minute appointment at an added charge. If there is significant additional work required in excess of that which is reasonable (ie going through extensive past medical documentation, contacting other providers), then Dr Tait reserves the right to bill for her time outside of the clinic appointment to gather this information. Dr Tait will inform families prior to the appointment if this is a possibility, provided the relevant documentation is available. If documentation is not provided, then the patient will need to have a further 60min appointment booked in order to provide a comprehensive assessment.

Further Testing

Paediatric Gastroenterology

If your child is being seen by a Paediatric Gastroenterologist and he/she needs an endoscopic procedure, this will be done at Ormiston Hospital, 125 Ormiston Road, Flat Bush, Auckland

Paediatric Neurology

If your child is being seen by Dr Rakesh Patel and he refers them for an MRI, he will refer them to the Centre for Advanced MRI (CAMRI) - this is located in the basement of Building 505, 85 Park Road, Grafton, Auckland (part of the faculty of Medical and Health Science building at the University of Auckland). MRI reception desk phone - 09-303-5966

Paediatric Endocrinology / Nephrology/ Genetics / Respiratory/ General Paediatrics

Any tests requested by any of these specialists will be done at another facility such as a blood laboratory or a Radiology practice. The address details of the specified facility will be given to the parents / caregivers at the time of the consultation.

Referrals & BOOKING an appointment


The referring GP or doctor should forward the referral to Auckland Medical Specialists as soon as possible in order for our team to view in advance where possible. If the child is coming back for a follow up visit and hasn’t been seen by the same specialist at our clinic in 12 months or more, a new referral from the GP is required. Parents or care givers are encouraged to call Auckland Medical Specialists to book an appointment for their child if the GP has suggested the child should see any of our paediatricians, with the exception of a General Paediatrician, Genetics and Nephrology.

General Paediatrics, Genetics and Nephrology

Referrals for General Paediatrics, Genetics and Nephrology will be triaged by one of the Paediatric team before an appointment for a child is made. Once it has been reviewed one of our administration staff will contact the parents/care givers to make an appointment.

If you wish your child to been seen as an ACC patient, please refer to the section on this website - Information for GPs.

If English is not your first language and you have difficulty understanding or communicating in English please bring an interpreter with you or someone who can speak and understand English on your behalf.

Once your child has an appointment, you will be sent two text-to-remind messages - the first one 7 days prior to your appointment and the second one 48 hours before the appointment. Please call us if you wish to cancel or change your appointment. Where possible we ask for at least 48 hours notice for any changes or cancellations.

CHARGES

  • Southern Cross Health Insurance Patients:
    Most of the Paediatricians at Auckland Medical Specialists are Affiliated Providers with Southern Cross. If you wish to have your consultation covered by Southern Cross (depending on your policy), please let us know this when making your appointment. You will need to have your membership number handy at the time of booking so that we can apply for Prior Approval with Southern Cross before your appointment.

  • All other health insurance patients:
    We require you to pay in full at the time of your consultation and will issue you with a receipt which you can use to claim back from your insurance company.

  • ACC patients:
    Please refer to the section on this website - Information for GPs - for information regarding ACC referrals.

  • All other patients:
    Payment is required in full at the time of the consultation. We accept cash, cheques, eftpos cards, Visa, Mastercard and AMEX. 

Consultants

There are 8 Paediatric Specialists at Auckland Medical Specialists.
Head to our “Consultants” page to read more about each specialist.