Going private for a Paed-Q’s?

Just wondering if I go and fork out the money (haven't sorted medical insurance out YET ...have the forms, will try and wait until they are processed) ...can I just book in privately with a Paed or do I still need the referal from Dr first? How does it work?

We're STILL on a waiting list for his boy bits, public waiting lists SUCK ...been on it for just over 6 months now, but the issue I want to get him seen to about is a diff one altogether. One that the Doc can't seem to give an answer for, im pretty sure if I voice my concerns again he won't have any problem referring us on ....but if i don't need to go through him I wont bother iykwim?

TIA

PS. Would a Paed be the ideal person we need to see regarding eating issues? Lucas is STILL incredibly fussy, but he's lost a large amount of weight recently due to the picky eating/some days refusing to eat at all ...can see his ribs quite easily and some times his tummy bloats up like theres no tomorrow, im actually wondering if he's got a wheat/gluten intolerance on top of whatever else is causing him not to eat. We had tests done with the Dr about 2 months ago, they came back clear so I left it at that but now its just getting beyond ridiculous and my once chubba boy is now fading away

aww just wana send you a big hug and hope you get your anwsers for your wee boy

Yeah i think they like to see a letter first. While your at the Drs check to see how long the waiting list is usually as I was going to go private but was told private would take longer.

My oldest three were all fails to thrive (didn't gain adequate weight/crossed several centile lines), Maya was referred to a dietician after she ended up in hospital but the gremlins were just referred by the GP and never actually saw a paed for it. We saw one thru Public Health and it didn't take long at all, they were in touch within a few days of the referral being done.

We have self referred Spencer three times. Twice to a paed, the first one retired so we changed to a different one. I also self referred to his eye specialist as well, none of them ever asked for anything from the gp. However in your case it might be good to talk to your gp first to make sure that you go to the right type of specialist, not much point paying to see a paed for them to tell you you need to see a dietician of some other type of specialist.
Good luck, I hope you get the feeding issue sorted soon as that must be very worrying. I hope they see him for his boy bits soon too.

Thanks ladies for your advice, and thanks Red for that ... I talked to someone from Tower about that and am aware pre-existing conditions (like the boy bits) aren't covered. Not so sure about his non-eating though as it's been on going and from time to time he's had the odd sore throat but nothing specifically linked to the no-eating iykwim?

I still think its an intolerance to something, the chronic bloating suggests something is up ...