Contact
Phone: (02) 9382 1021 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 4.30pm)
About our service
The Nutrition and Dietetic department's goal is to provide a high quality nutritional service to paediatric inpatients and outpatients attending the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. The department is made up of a team of dietitians and allied health assistances.
Our service offers a paediatric nutrition and dietetic service, including:
- nutritional assessment, including a comprehensive growth, clinical and dietary review
- tailored nutritional education based on the needs of the child
- provision of therapeutic diets to manage a medical condition
- expertise in infant feeding
- personalised support on oral, enteral and infant formulas.
Referral process for clinicians
Our department is using Consultmed to manage referrals. The Consultmed platform allows health professionals to send e-referrals to us securely.
Consultmed questions and technical support: helpdesk@consultmed.co
Please ensure the child’s growth measurements have been completed and assessed prior to placing a referral. The referral should include an up to date weight, length/height, and head circumference (for children 0-2 years).
Referrals will be triaged by the Dietetic department once they are received.
We prioritise children from priority populations including:
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities
- Children living with a disability
- Children living in out-of-home-care
Please let us know if you meet any of these criteria. Please indicate if interpreter services are required and specify the language.
Referral and appointment process for parents and carers
Request a referral
To make an appointment at our clinic, you will need a referral from your GP, paediatrician or specialist.
They will assess your child, discuss your concerns, and make a referral to the appropriate service.
Track your referral
Our department uses Consultmed to manage referrals. Your referring clinician sends the e-referral to us using the secure Consultmed platform.
Once we receive the referral, we will send you an email with your tracking information. We will update you as we process the referral and book your appointment.
To receive these updates, please ask your referring clinician to include your email on the referral.
If the referral meets referral criteria, it will be triaged by the Dietetic department. Two weeks prior to the appointment, our administration team will contact the family to confirm the appointment details. Appointments occur face to face in the Outpatient Department at SCH.
If your clinician has questions about Consultmed or require technical support, they can contact helpdesk@consultmed.co.
Need support?
If you need help or have questions about the referral and appointment process, please contact us.
Phone: (02) 9382 1021
Clinic information: Nutrition and Dietetic outpatient services
Our service manages a range of dietitian-led clinics.
General outpatient clinic
The General Outpatient clinic is a dietitian run clinic that aims to provide support to the local community on common nutritional issues.
A dietitian will complete a detailed nutritional assessment of the patients diet, nutritional status and growth. Strategies and dietary counselling will be provided to promote healthy growth and feeding practices.
Clinic times: Held fortnightly on a Friday morning.
Referral criteria:
- Faltering growth (as evident from recent heights and weights plotted on a growth chart)
- Vitamin or mineral deficiency (confirmed by a blood test)
- Enterally fed child
Feeding clinic
The Feeding Clinic is a joint Dietitian and Speech Pathology service. A General Paediatric Registrar attends each weekly clinic, and a clinical psychologist attends relevant appointments.
The Feeding clinic aims to support infants and children with feeding difficulties through providing a high-quality assessment of the patient’s diet, nutritional status, growth, oral-motor skills and swallowing skills. Strategies are provided to promote safe and efficient feeding skills that allow patients to enjoy a diet that supports optimal growth and development.
In addition, Feeding clinic offers strategies for families and carers that reduce the stress surrounding mealtimes.
Clinic times: Held weekly on a Thursday morning.
Referral criteria: the patient must have an area of concern in both growth and nutrition AND feeding skills:
Growth and nutrition:
- Faltering growth (as evident from recent heights and weights plotted on growth chart)
- Vitamin or mineral deficiency (confirmed by blood test- please attach)
- Enterally fed
- Low food intake
Feeding skills:
- Coughing/choking with feeds
- Frequent respiratory infections (? aspiration)
- Lengthy feeding times/poor intake
- Poor transition to solids
- Difficulty with textures
- Stressful mealtime interactions
- Difficult mealtime behaviours
Weight management clinic
The child’s family and caregivers are involved to promote family centred weight management. The service consists of 3 compulsory group sessions which are held via telehealth followed by 6 individual sessions over a 6-month period.
Clinic times: Held weekly on a Thursday afternoon.
Referral criteria:
- Patients with a BMI Z-score between +2 to +2.5 (as evident from recent heights and weights plotted on a growth chart) OR
- BMI Z-score of +1.5 to +2 with recent rapid weight gain or risk factors/co-morbidities which have an immediate impact on their health e.g. steroid use, post oncology treatment, weight impacting on their mobility.
Specialist multidisciplinary clinics
- Cystic fibrosis
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Cerebral Palsy
- Neuromuscular
- Neurology
- Ketogenic Diet
- Tracheostomy
- Oncology
- Gastroenterology
- Tracheooesophageal fistula
- Inborn errors of metabolism
- Epidemislosis bullose
- Diabetes
- Prader Willi Syndrome
- Surgical bowel clinic
- HIV
- Renal
Referrals to specialist multidisciplinary clinics to be sent to medical team that operates clinic
