Neurology information for professionals

The Neurology department provides a specialist (tertiary) service for children 0-16 years of age with neurological disorders, who are already under the care of a paediatrician or other paediatric specialist.

Outpatient appointment
As a tertiary care hospital, all children must be referred via local hospital consultants, community paediatricians or paediatric neurologists. We do not accept referrals from GPs.

To make a referral to the Neurology department, please write to:

Department of Paediatric Neurology
Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham B4 6NH

For urgent referrals please call the switchboard on 0121 333 9999 and request the neurology on-call team. Referrals must be discussed at a consultant to consultant level only.

We require the following minimum information:

Patient details:

• name and details of patient including NHS number (if applicable), current GP and lead consultant
• whether an interpreter for the child / or family is required

Clinical questions:

• reason for referral such as diagnostic, prognostic, second opinion or other
• details of previous neurology opinions
• referral letter with current information and referral question

Investigations:

Referrals cannot be processed fully unless imaging (hard copies/CD) and other relevant investigations have been received. Therefore, please include:

• MRI/CT
• EEG/EMG
• Blood tests and other assessments

If you know the consultant the patient is under then please call their secretary via the hospital switchboard on 0121 333 999. Please be advised that urgent queries are dealt with by the on call team, not by a patient’s named consultant.

How to get advice for patients not known to our team

For urgent referrals please email bch-tr.neurologyoncall@nhs.net with clinical details (using SBAR) and then call the switchboard 0121 333 9999 and request the neurology on-call team. Referrals must be discussed at consultant to consultant level only. Urgent referrals are considered those where patients are requiring acute inpatient transfer.

If requesting advice regarding acute inpatient management this can only be discussed at consultant to consultant level. Please email first the clinical details using SBAR to bch-tr.neurologyoncall@nhs.net and then call the neurology on-call team, 0121 333 999.

Please note we will only review brain/spine scans in patients being considered for transfer to our hospital. For a radiology opinion, scans should be sent to the Radiology department via IEP accompanied by a formal referral letter.

For non-urgent referrals please post or fax a referral letter with the relevant clinical details and clinical question, as per our referral guidelines above. Referrals fax: 0121 333 8151

Referrals to the Epilepsy Surgery Team must be done by a Consultant Neurologist or Consultant Paediatrician. These should be addressed to Dr Sunny Philip as Clinical Lead. Unfortunately, we do not accept referrals directly from patients, parents or from General Practitioners.

For complex epilepsy, children should be referred to our service if they have a diagnosis of epilepsy, under the age of two, if they have a focal type of epilepsy or if they have been trialled on two different anti-epileptic medications.

What is the referral criteria?

Children should be referred for assessment by our Children's Epilepsy Surgery Service (CESS) if they meet one of the following criteria:

• Children with catastrophic early onset epilepsy with evidence of lateralisation of the seizure onset
• All children under 24 months with evidence of focality of seizure onset, with or without an MRI evident lesion
• Children of any age with evident focal epilepsy, or lateralised seizures associated with congenital hemiplegia, resistant to two appropriate anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs)
• Children who have epilepsy associated with a lateralised abnormality seen on a brain scan
• Children with epilepsy associated with Sturge-Weber syndrome, benign tumours with developmental issues and/or ongoing seizures, or Rasmussen’s Syndrome
• Children of any age with epilepsy associated with tuberous sclerosis resistant to two AEDs where seizures may arise from a single focus (probably from a single tuber)
• Children who have ‘drop attacks’ as part of a more complex epilepsy
• Children with epilepsy associated with hypothalamic hamartoma