Visiting Us

Making an appointment

Kinderdoctor Paediatrics is an independent private specialist clinic offering appointments at Spencer Health Hornsby. Monday to Friday 08:00 – 17:00 and Saturday 10:00 – 16:00

If you would like to see Dr Arno, please ask your GP for a referral. While you do not need a referral as a private patient, it is always a good idea to have your family physician on board, and you will only be eligible for the Medicare rebate with a valid referral.

A regular GP referral is valid for one year after the first appointment. You need to obtain a new referral after the year as otherwise Medicare will not rebate you for your appointment. If you are unsure when your referral is due to expire, please contact us to clarify. 

Fees

To make an appointment at Kinderdoctor Paediatrics as affordable to as many families as possible, the fees are much lower than the AMA (Australian Medical Association) recommendations for specialist consultation fees.

The fees are payable on the day of your consultation. The payments are taken through credict card pre-authorisation. Cash payments are not possible. The Medicare rebate will be processed at the same time once the payment is taken.

All first appointments require a non-refundable $100.00 booking-fee to secure your booking. The booking-fee will be applied towards your appointment cost. If you decide that your child is not needing an appointment anymore after the initial booking is confirmed by you, the booking fee will not be refunded as it is for covering the administration work already required by our receptionist (phone calls, setting up your child in our computer system, sending documents) and by Dr Arno (triaging and writing a return of care letter to the GP).

Medicare Safety Net:
If your total out-of-pocket medical bill for out of hospital services (like Paediatricians and GPs) reaches a certain amount in a given calendar year (starting 1 January), Medicare does pay back a much higher amount. If you register as a family, the bill for any family member will be counted together.

In 2026 the threshold is:

• Concession card holders and families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A: $861.20
• All other: $2,699.10

For further information:
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/medicare-safety-nets

Appointments and Bookings

After receiving the GP referral, Dr Arno will triage the referral, and our receptionist will contact you to arrange an appointment.

Please make sure that we have your correct contact phone number and that you are available or that we have the option to leave a voice message. After the appointment is booked, we will send you a letter with the appointment confirmation, general information about your visit, the ‘Registration Form Paediatrician’. Depending on the nature of concerns the referral letter states, we may send you some questionnaires and screeners. Please take your time to complete all form as detailed as possible and email them to us ideally at least 48 hours before the appointment, as the consults are prepared one day in advance. If you bring them to the appointment, it may reduce the time spend with you if e.g. important details need to be added into our software, and if questionnaires require scoring.

All new appointments require a non-refundable $100.00 booking-fee to secure your booking. The booking-fee will be applied towards your appointment cost. If you decide that your child is not needing an appointment anymore after the booking is confirmed by you, the booking fee will not be refunded as it is for covering the administration work already required by our receptionist (phone calls, setting up your child in our computer system, sending emails) and by Dr Arno (triaging and writing a return of care letter to the GP).

We send a reminder text message 48 hours prior to the appointment. This is a NO REPLY message service that is not monitored by us, please call us directly per phone if you need to reschedule. Do not use email for changing appointments. The reminder text message is a courtesy service only and not receiving a reminder text message is not an excuse to miss an appointment. Depending on your phone and provider setting, the automatic text message reminders sometimes may not work.

What happens at the first visit

Please arrive 15 minutes prior to your first appointment time to allow for your child to be fully set up and registered. If you have not completed the registration form, please come even earlier as it will take you around 10 minutes to fill in the details and another 10 minutes for us to transfer all information into our patient software. Even better provide all forms at least 48 hours before the appointment, to give us the opportunity to prepare your visit as much as possible and to have more time for you. For all subsequent visits it will be enough if you arrive for the check-in just 5 minutes prior the appointment.

During the appointment Dr Arno will listen to you and your child and will talk about your concerns. Depending on the history he may do a physical examination focusing on your child’s symptoms or just observe, chat, and play with your child. He will then discuss his opinion and managing options with you and your child and create a therapy plan together with you.

After the appointment, he will write a detailed clinic letter with his assessment, impression and management and a follow up plan as agreed with you to your referring GP, usually on the same day. A copy of the letter will be sent to you. Please feel free to share the clinic letter with all allied health and other services as you deem appropriate. If there are shared care arrangements for your child, please provide a copy of the letter to the other parent / carer.

Info requirements / What else to bring

To get the right diagnosis and give the best possible care for your child, please bring copies of supporting documents to your visit. Even better send them to us a few days before the appointment as the clinics are set up and prepared one day prior the appointment.

These may include:

• Previous reports of any relevant assessments and interventions your child had in the past from:
• • Specialist doctors (e.g. previous Paediatricians, Psychiatrist, others)
  • Psychology, Speech and Occupational Therapy, Hospital and Community Health Services
  • Hearing and Vision tests
  • Cognitive / Development / Behavioural assessment reports
• Letters from Daycare, Kindergarten, School with observations from the teachers

Please also bring

• All medications and nutritional supplements your child are taking or pictures of the packaging

• Your child’s ‘Personal Health Record’ book (‘The Blue Book’)

If the child is under Child Safety Queensland or other Government Agency or if you are separated and there are restrictions on either parent to access the child’s information or to provide consent, please provide

• Care arrangements
  • Relevant sections of the court order if there is a family court order in place

• Child Safety Involvement
  • Contact details of case workers
  • Court order and care and guardianship arrangements
  • Social and medical background history
  • Child Safety approval and agreement to see Dr Arno

The long-term legal guardian must be able to attend the first appointment. Depending on circumstances s/he may be required for every appointment, e.g. if there is a change in management requiring new consent by the legal guardian.

Children under Child Safety or other Government Agency – Foster carers

Dr Arno does only see children accompanied by a legal guardian with the exception of children under Child Safety when Child Safety has long-term guardianship and the relevant court documents are provided. If you are a foster carer, Dr Arno needs the written evidence of legal long-term guardianship to provide medical services to your child.

Children with separated parents policy

Dr Arno’s focus is on the child’s medical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Conflict and communication breakdown between parents can significantly impact optimal health management.

It is an expectation that separated parents work together respectfully and cooperatively regarding the care of their child.

If one parent makes an appointment, we do not provide information regarding the appointment to the other parent. We will send a copy of the clinic letter to the attending parent / carer. The information about appointments and providing feedback must be communicated directly between the parents. We do not have the capacity to provide separate feedback to each parent. Both parents are welcome to attend the appointment jointly.

Dr Arno will share his clinic letter with both parents if requested and if there is no court order against it.

If there is disagreement between parents about treatment and both have legal guardianship, Dr Arno will only provide an opinion and advise but not pursue a decision and I will not prescribe non-essential medications. Dr Arno’s consult is for medical interventions directed at the child’s well-being and he will not support either parent’s case.

If there are any relevant court orders or legal documents, it is the parent’s obligation to provide these.
When there is significant conflict, Dr Arno reserve the right to discharge a family if the conflict is disruptive to the clinic or impeding the care of the child.

Dr Arno does not accept referrals where the purpose of the assessment is to generate information for legal decision making around custody issues of parental separation.

Preparing your child

It is a good idea to talk your child before you see us and explain why you are coming to Dr Arno. Reassure your child the Paediatrician’s room is a friendly and fun place to visit.

While there are usually no needles involved, sometimes Dr Arno will ask for a blood test, e.g., for allergy or nutritional testing. Please do not promise your child there won’t be any needles, if there is a chance it is recommended. However, you can always decide to do the blood test on another day.

Please see this link for information on how to reduce stress before and during procedures.

[www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Reducing_your_childs_discomfort_during_procedures]

A great way to reduce needle pain is a numbing cream you can buy over the counter at your pharmacy. The cream will take an hour to work. Comfort positioning like sitting on the parent’s lap and distraction like soap bubbles or videos on the smart phone, can work wonders to make the poke much more pleasant.

Cancellation and non-attendance

Your appointment time has been reserved to see your child and family. If you cannot attend the appointment, Dr Arno respectfully asks to notify the specialist receptionist per phone call on (02) 8018 6377, at least 48 hours in advance so he can offer the timeslot to another patient. Appointment changes / cancellations must always be made per phone call, not by email. The cancellation notice period is based on clear business days when notification is received, therefore excludes weekends and public holidays.

If you cancel an appointment less than 48 hours in advance or you do not attend an appointment, a cancellation/non-attendance fee of $200 for a missed initial and $100 for a missed review appointment will apply. The fee must be paid before a next appointment is offered. The cancellation/non-attendance fee is not rebated by Medicare.

We hope you understand the impact a missed appointment has on our clinic and on other families.

Arrival and Running late

Please ensure you start early enough and arrive 15 minutes prior to your first appointment time to allow for your child to be fully set up and registered. For all subsequent visits it will be enough if you arrive for the check-in just 5 minutes prior the appointment. The appointment length is calculated to have adequate time to talk about your concerns, examining your child and discuss and prepare a management plan. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late and there is a next patient scheduled there is not enough time to cover all these needs safely and Dr Arno likely has to cancel the appointment, and the cancellation fee applies.