FAQs

To receive a Medicare rebate for a consultation with a paediatrician, a valid Medicare referral is required.

This is referral is typically obtained from your General Practitioner (GP) but can also be provided by a specialist.

Please note that GP Referrals are valid for 12 months, whilst referrals from specialists are valid for 3 months.

• What if I don’t have a valid referral or Medicare care, can my child still be seen?

Yes, your child can still be seen without a valid Medicare referral or Medicare card; however, the full fee will apply, and you will not be eligible for a Medicare rebate for the appointment.

In Australia, it is the patient's responsibility to manage the validity of their referral to ensure they can claim Medicare rebates for specialist appointments.

• Obtain a New Referral: The patient needs to return to their General Practitioner (GP) for a new, updated referral before their next specialist appointment.
• Preventive Action: Patients should track their appointment dates against the referral's 12-month validity period and request a new one before the current one expires to avoid losing Medicare rebates.
• Notify the Specialist: If a new referral has been arranged, the patient must inform the specialist’s receptionist to ensure they are not billed for a "new patient" at a higher rate, especially if the new referral is for the same condition.

We strongly encourage both parents (or usual carers) along with the child, to attend new assessment sessions.

To ensure effective communication we kindly request that no more than two adults accompany a child to the appointment.

For children under the care of the Department of Communities, (DoC), we encourage the caseworker to attend all appointments alongside the primary carer to support decision-making and streamline communication.

We kindly recommend that other children do not attend the appointment unless they have a scheduled appointment immediately following. Please note that reception staff are unable to supervise children. You may find it more convenient to schedule sibling appointments on separate days.

Please bring your child, Medicare card and your preferred method of payment. If school/therapy reports have not been provided electronically, please bring these along as well. For your initial appointment please also bring your neonatal newborn (purple)
book.

At Wild Child Paediatrics, we prefer appointments to be conducted in person to provide the most comprehensive care. However, we understand that there may be circumstances such as health concerns or remote location, where a video consultation would be more practical. Please note that video consultations may not be as thorough as in-person assessments and are not available for both the first and second sessions of a new assessment. Kindly be aware that you must physically be in Australia to claim the Medicare rebate.
We deserve the right to decline video appointments if we believe it could compromise the quality of clinical care.

At Wild Child Paediatrics, our waitlists are very long, and we ask that all appointments be kept as scheduled to help improve access to care for all WA families. Rescheduling can be difficult, and the next available appointment can be months away. A cancellation fee will  apply if less than 48 hours’ notice is provided (excluding weekends and public holidays,  Monday or Tuesday if after a public holiday).

For more information about appointment cancellation, please check our Cancellation Policy

We understand that unexpected circumstances such as illness or bereavement, can occur. If this happens, please notify us as soon as possible. In certain cases we may request supporting documentation such as a medical certificate to confirm the situation.

We recommend allowing an additional 10–15 minutes for travel to ensure you arrive on time for your appointment. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, the appointment will need to be rescheduled to allow sufficient time for your child’s assessment. As this appointment time was reserved exclusively for your child and could not be reallocated at short notice, the deposit is non-refundable.

We understand that unexpected circumstances such as illness or bereavement, can occur. If this happens, please notify us as soon as possible. In certain cases we may request supporting documentation such as a medical certificate to confirm the situation.

If you are uncomfortable discussing specific matters in your child’s presence, we recommend bringing a responsible adult to supervise them in the waiting room during your consultation. Alternatively, if advanced notice is provided these concerns can be addressed via a telehealth consultation privately. Please indicate your preference for this at the time of booking.

Summary reports are always provided after an assessment or review with copies provided for families and their general practitioner. Detailed reports are available at additional charge and will often require the completion of multiple appointments prior to finalisation

Developmental and behavioural concerns can be complex, requiring time and careful assessment to ensure an accurate diagnosis and effective management plan. In order to provide comprehensive care, we allocate one hour for new assessments, which can require up to 2-3 sessions, and 30 minutes for follow-up consultations.

Before your Telehealth appointment, you’ll receive a link via SMS to access the Telehealth waiting room. To ensure the session runs smoothly, please follow the preparation steps outlined on our Telehealth guideline page.

At Wild Child Paediatrics, our paediatrician is experienced in conducting autism assessments in line with Western Australian guidelines. For this assessment to be completed to standard, additional input will be required from a psychologist and/or speech pathologist. This can be discussed further at the time of your consultation.

At Wild Child Paediatrics, we understand that there may be occasions when you wish to record a consultation to share information with another parent or caregiver who is unable to attend. However, we ask that you respect the privacy of the paediatrician and refrain from recording any part of the consultation without explicit consent.

All website content, including text, wording, service descriptions, clinical pathway descriptions, graphics, images, logos, layout, forms, downloadable resources and other materials, is owned by or licensed to Wild Child Group Pty Ltd trading as Wild Child Paediatrics unless otherwise stated.

No part of this website may be copied, reproduced, adapted, republished, distributed, scraped, uploaded, transmitted or used for commercial purposes without our prior written consent.

1. Purpose of This Policy

Wild Child Group Pty Ltd trading as Wild Child Paediatrics respects intellectual property rights and expects others to do the same.

This policy explains how we protect our own website content and how copyright concerns can be reported to us.

This policy is intended for use in Australia.

2. Our Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, Wild Child Paediatrics owns or is licensed to use the content on this website, including:

• written content;
• service descriptions;
• clinical pathway descriptions;
• assessment and intake information;
• website layout and presentation;
• images, icons, graphics and visual materials;
• forms, templates, downloadable resources and documents;
• logos, business names and branding.

Our original website content is protected by Australian copyright law.

You must not copy, reproduce, adapt, republish, scrape, distribute, upload, transmit, commercially exploit or present our content as your own without our prior written permission.

3. Unauthorised Copying by Other Websites or Businesses

If Wild Child Paediatrics becomes aware that another person, business, clinic, healthcare provider, website owner or organisation has copied, adapted or commercially used our website content without permission, we may take action.

This may include:

• taking screenshots and preserving evidence;
• comparing the copied content against our original content;
• issuing a written request for immediate removal;
• requesting correction, attribution or undertakings where appropriate;
• sending takedown requests to website hosts, platforms, search engines or internet service providers;
• seeking compensation or damages where appropriate;
• referring the matter for legal advice or formal legal action.

4. Reporting Copyright Concerns to Us

If you believe that material on our website infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to us with the following information:

1. your full name, organisation if applicable, and contact details;
2. details of the copyright work you claim has been infringed;
3. the exact URL or location of the material on our website;
4. an explanation of why you believe the use is unauthorised;
5. evidence that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act for the copyright owner;
6. a statement that the information you have provided is accurate;
7. your physical or electronic signature.

Copyright notices should be sent to:

Operations Manager
Wild Child Group Pty Ltd trading as Wild Child Paediatrics
Email: admin@wildchildpaediatrics.com
Website: www.wildchildpaediatrics.com

5. Our Response to Copyright Complaints

When we receive a copyright complaint, we may:

• review the complaint;
• request further information;
• temporarily remove or restrict access to the material;
• contact the person or organisation who provided the material;
• reject complaints that are incomplete, unsupported, false, misleading or made in bad faith;
• seek legal advice before taking further action.

6. False or Misleading Complaints

You must not submit a copyright complaint that is false, misleading, vexatious, made in bad faith, or designed to interfere unfairly with our business.

We reserve our rights in relation to any loss, damage, cost or disruption caused by a false or misleading complaint.

7. No Permission by Silence

If Wild Child Paediatrics does not immediately respond to or act on unauthorised use of its content, this does not mean we consent to that use, waive our rights, or permit the conduct to continue.

All rights are expressly reserved.

8. Contact for Permission Requests

If you wish to use any Wild Child Paediatrics content, wording, resources, graphics, forms or materials, you must request written permission before doing so.

Permission requests can be sent to:

Wild Child Paediatrics.

At Wild Child Paediatrics, we aim to provide clear, collaborative care for children with separated parents. Our policy outlines expectations around appointments, communication and payment responsibilities ensuring the focus remains on your child’s needs. For more details, including guidelines on custody arrangements and reports, please see our separated parent policy.

If you need to book an appointment for urgent concerns that require in-depth attention, please note that these sessions may not be immediate. In the meantime, we encourage you to refer to our Urgent Support and Crisis Policyfor support and guidance during this period. Your well-being is our priority, and we’re here to assist you as quickly and effectively as possible.

ADHD Medication Management and Ongoing Care

Prescribing ADHD Medication in Western Australia (WA)

Historically, access to ADHD diagnosis and prescribing of stimulant medicines in WA has largely relied on
psychiatrists and paediatricians. Increasing demand for services and a limited specialist workforce has resulted
in long wait times and challenges accessing care, particularly outside metropolitan areas.
The WA government has recently expanded on the role of appropriately trained GPs to provide ADHD
assessment and management for suitable patients, while maintaining specialist involvement for more complex
cases.
At Wild Child Paediatrics, our priority is to provide safe, consistent and appropriately specialist supervised
ADHD care.
This page explains how this practice works in partnership with GPs in the management of child’s ADHD
medications should this GP involvement be chosen by your family.

Ongoing Care at Wild Child Paediatrics During the First 12 Months of ADHD

Medication Treatment
Our practice policy is that children commenced on ADHD medication through Wild Child Paediatrics remain
under our care until they have been clinically stable on treatment for at least 12 months. During this period, we
do not recommend the involvement of a co-prescriber.

This is a Wild Child Paediatrics clinical governance policy and is not a requirement of WA stimulant
prescribing legislation. It allows sufficient time to establish treatment effectiveness and tolerability, address
emerging difficulties, and establish an appropriate monitoring plan.
Continuity of care in the first year of treatment gives us the best chance of getting your child’s medication and
monitoring right.

GP prescribing in Western Australia

WA prescribing regulations provide two (2) distinct pathways through which a GP may be involved in
stimulant prescribing.

These are different arrangements with different requirements, and it’s important not to confuse them.

1. Specialist GP ADHD Training Program (independent prescribing).

A GP who has completed the WA Specialist GP ADHD Training Program, including the required period of specialist co-management, may independently diagnose and manage ADHD — including initiating stimulant
prescribing — for eligible patients aged 10 years and over. This is the only GP pathway that allows a
GP to independently start ADHD treatment without an initiating specialist. For more information,
please visit: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and treatment through
General Practitioners (GPs)

2. Shared Care Model (continuing prescribing):

Under the WA Shared Care Model, a GP or nurse practitioner may continue an S8 stimulant that was already initiated by an Approved Specialist, provided:
● the S8 stimulant was initiated by an Approved Specialist for the purpose of treating ADHD;
● the patient is under ongoing treatment with that S8 stimulant;
● the prescribing — medication name, formulation and dose — is consistent with the Approved Specialist’s written instructions or the latest prescription on ScriptCheckWA; and
● the practitioner has reviewed the patient and is satisfied it is safe to prescribe.
Shared care does not require Wild Child Paediatrics to formally appoint or approve the GP as a co-prescriber — a GP can check current medication details via ScriptCheckWA and prescribe a continuing script on that basis.
Importantly, shared care is not a transfer of care: children and adolescents on this model still require a review with their Approved Specialist (Wild Child Paediatrics) every 12 months, and Wild Child Paediatrics remains the treating specialist for the ADHD diagnosis and overall management plan.
Both pathways are available directly to the GPs who meet the relevant requirements.

PLEASE NOTE: Wild Child Paediatrics does not approve, credential or authorise individual GPs to use either pathway. Wild Child Paediatrics does not refer patients to, nor does it endorse, any particular GP or general practice for this purpose.
Where a family independently chooses to involve a GP in the management of a child’s ADHD care under either of the pathways described above, it is the responsibility of the treating GP to determine whether they meet the legislative requirements and whether prescribing is within their scope of practice.

Provision of clinical information to GPs under the Shared Care Model

Wild Child Paediatrics will provide clinical letters, summaries and records to support a GP who is managing, or considering managing, a child’s ADHD care under the share care model described above. Providing this information at the request of a family or a treating GP is a routine part of continuity of care.
Providing clinical information in this manner does not constitute delegation, referral or handover of your child’s care. The clinical responsibility for the child’s ADHD care remains with Wild Child Paediatrics.
Children and adolescents on this model still require a review with their Approved Specialist (Wild Child Paediatrics) every 12 months.

Formal transfer or handover of care under Specialist GP ADHD Training Program
Wild Child Paediatrics is happy to formally transfer or hand over a child’s ADHD management to another
specialist paediatrician, psychiatrist and GPs who is trained and qualified to manage ADHD under the
Specialist GP ADHD Training Program, in the same way as any other specialist-to-specialist referral.
A formal transfer or handover of care means that Wild Child Paediatrics will no longer retain clinical responsibility for your child's ADHD medication management.
Responsibility for the ongoing prescribing, monitoring and management of your child's ADHD medication will instead rest with the receiving healthcare practitioner.
If you have questions about your child’s ADHD care plan, please contact us.