Children’s Clinic – Paediatric Care for Families

You will need a referral from a doctor to access this service and be eligible for a Medicare rebate. We only accept referrals if you live in Darebin.

Referrals from GPs are generally valid for 12 months, starting from the date of your first appointment. Referrals from specialists are valid for 3 months. 

We will try to let you know if your referral is due to expire before your next appointment, and we appreciate your cooperation in keeping up with this.  

We provide personalised paediatric assessment and support for children aged 0–11 years living in the City of Darebin.

We support families with physical health concerns, developmental delays, behavioural challenges, emotional wellbeing and social difficulties. Our experienced paediatric team works alongside parents and carers to assess, manage and support children’s health and development in a safe and welcoming environment.

We provide assessment and support for a range of childhood health and developmental concerns, including:

• Developmental delays
• Behavioural challenges
• Emotional and social difficulties
• Learning and attention concerns
• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessments and support
• Speech and communication concerns
• Physical health and growth concerns
• Feeding and sleep difficulties
• Complex or chronic health conditions.

Our paediatricians can offer a range of behavioural and development assessments including for Autism and ADHD. These assessments require input from the child and their family, as well as teachers and other clinicians (e.g. occupational therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist etc.) 

The length of an assessment depends on a range of factors, and this process will look different for each child. 

Please note that we cannot provide a diagnosis during a first appointment. 

For more information about Autism and developmental assessments, you can visit the Royal Children’s Hospital website.

We provide assessment and support for a range of childhood health and developmental concerns, including:

• Behavioural challenges
• Emotional and social difficulties
• Learning and attention concerns
• Speech and communication concerns
• Feeding and sleep difficulties.

To help us make the most of your appointment, we recommend:

• Bringing your Medicare card and any relevant medical history
• Bringing any relevant reports (school reports, previous assessments, specialist letters)
• A list of current medications
• Your child’s Maternal and Child Health records if available (e.g. the green book)
• Writing down any questions or concerns you would like to discuss.

We can also request information from other services, with your consent. 

At your first visit, our paediatric clinician will:

• Take a detailed medical and developmental history
• Discuss your child’s current health, behaviour and learning concerns
• Review any previous reports or assessments
• Conduct relevant developmental or physical assessments where appropriate
• Answer your questions and discuss possible next steps

Appointments are tailored to your child’s needs and may include observation, screening tools or further referral planning if required.

New patient appointments can last 45 – 60min.
Review appointments are booked for 30min.

Yes. For the appointment to attract a Medicare rebate, the child must be in attendance. This includes for telehealth appointments and phone calls.  

If you would like to speak with your paediatrician without the child in the room, this can be negotiated on the day. Please ensure you bring another person who can wait with the child in the waiting room. 

We are a mixed billing clinic, meaning there is an out-of-pocket cost on top of the Medicare rebate for most clients.

Bulk billing is available to refugees and asylum seekers, and Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander persons with a valid Medicare card. 

More information about our fees can be found here.

To book an appointment with our Clinic, please have your referral handy and contact us on 03 8470 1111.

You can also enquire about the service online.

If you are not eligible for bulk billing, we require payment on the day, after your appointment is completed. Once the full upfront fee is paid, you can tap your debit card to receive an instant rebate via our EFTPOS terminal.  

• Please note that instant rebates can only be claimed on the date of service. 
• Rebates cannot be paid onto credit cards. 

If we are not able to process an instant rebate, we can still make the claim manually, and the rebate will be paid into your account within 48 hours. Alternatively, we can provide a receipt, and you can claim at home via Medicare Online. 

If you miss your appointment or cancel within six business hours, there is a fee of $50.  

Please let us know in advance by calling 8470 1111 if you need to cancel, so that we can offer your appointment to someone else in need.

Unfortunately, our system only allows for one primary contact to receive appointment reminders. A second caregiver can be added as an emergency contact, however they will not receive routine notifications.  

Some of our paediatricians use Lyrebird Health software to help them record notes so that they can focus more on connecting with you and your child.  

You will be asked for your consent before this software is used, and you can decline if you want to – this will not impact your child’s appointment or care. 

Any data that is recorded using Lyrebird is stored securely and can only be accessed by your paediatrician. More information can be found here. 

If your child has multiple health/development issues, you can ask your GP for a Chronic Disease Management Plan to access subsidised allied health services  

We offer a range of allied health services for children including speech pathology, dietetics, physiotherapy, podiatry and occupational therapy. Please note different eligibility criteria apply for our allied health services. Call 84701111 to enquire. 

Our clinic is located at balit wurun, PANCH Health Centre, at 300 Bell Street, Preston. 

There is parking available on the roof of the building, accessible via South Street.  

It is a 2-minute walk to the 86 tram stop on Plenty Road/Bell Street. 

It is a 10-minute walk to Bell train station (Mernda line).