Paediatric Outpatient Referrals During the Current COVID-19 Pandemic 27 Mar 2020

Any urgent cases should continue to be referred in the usual fashion, by telephone to the on call paediatrician if requesting same day review/admission, or via urgent out patient referral.

Any urgent cases should continue to be referred in the usual fashion, by telephone to the on call paediatrician if requesting same day review/admission, or via urgent out patient referral. Our teams will grade out patient referrals daily as usual. We will have emergency outpatient appointments available for a very small number of cases only.  

Please minimise all other referrals as all other clinics will shortly be cancelled. Referrals for behavioural/developmental concerns and other non-urgent problems will be declined and a standardised advice letter returned to you explaining our current situation. All referrals will be reviewed on a case by case basis and you will receive the outcome as usual, as well as any advice for managing the patient in the meantime in primary care. Please advise patients that the waiting list for review in the paediatric clinic will increase significantly.  

Best wishes
Philippa Wood
On behalf of the Paediatric team at Tauranga Hospital