What is Children’s Health?
Children’s health refers to the overall physical, mental, and social well-being of children from birth to adolescence. It encompasses preventive care, regular check-ups, vaccinations, and the diagnosis and treatment of various illnesses and injuries.
At Belconnen Mall Medical Centre, the dedicated doctors provide comprehensive care for acute medical issues and essential health checks. The focus is on several key areas, including:
- Respiratory Issues: Management of common ailments such as coughs, colds, and infections. While coughing helps clear mucus, persistent or severe symptoms should be evaluated by a doctor.
- Sore Throats: Assessment and treatment for conditions caused by viral or bacterial infections, such as strep throat. Symptoms may include pain when swallowing and swollen tonsils.
- Ear Infections: Common in young children, often following a cold. Our doctors provide guidance on managing earaches and when to seek further care.
- Behavioural Concerns: Support for childhood behavioral issues, including ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). We offer advice and referrals to specialists when necessary.
- General Health Care: Regular health check-ups and vaccinations are crucial for healthy development. Our team ensures children receive timely immunizations to protect against serious diseases.
Childhood Immunisation
Childhood immunisations are available at our Practice. The immunisation schedule covers immunisations at 6 weeks, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 4 years. The full schedule is available here.
At these visits the clinical team take the opportunity to check your child’s growth and development, and to check on any concerns you have about their health and wellbeing. Our registered nurses will see your child first and check their weight, and give you information about the vaccines for that day, and can also assist your doctor to administer vaccines.
Influenza vaccine is funded for children 6 months to 4yo and is available from April each year. Other children might be eligible for a funded flu vaccine due to their medical conditions, and any child can have a flu vaccine. We can advise you about vaccines that not publicly funded, but are recommended. The main one is a vaccine for Meningococcal B strain.
Once the 4 year old schedule is complete, children are not offered scheduled vaccines until year 7 and then year 10 (other than influenza and COVID vaccines) If you need to check your child’s immunisations list you can go to the Australian Immunisations Register. through mygov. (If your child is 14 they will need their own mygov account to access this information)