Paediatric GP timing: children's GP, specialist, 111 or 999

You have a child who will not settle, a rash you cannot read, a fever that has gone on a day too long, or a question about growth, and several doors in front of you. One is a paediatric GP at 117a Harley Street. The others are 999, A&E, NHS 111, an adult GP slot, and a consultant paediatrician. They all sound like children's medicine, but they are not interchangeable. Choosing the wrong door is how a family sits in a booked Harley Street room with a child who needed an ambulance, or waits for a specialist clinic when a GP with paediatric interest could have examined them this week.

The question is not whether private care is better. It is which visit matches the child in front of you, on this day, at this age.

When is it 999 or A&E?

This clinic is not an emergency service. NHS advice is plain. Call 999 or go to A&E if a child is severely unwell or if their life may be at risk. That is the public emergency system, not a Monday or Wednesday diary on Harley Street.

A booked paediatric slot cannot do that work. If you are reading this while your child is collapsing, struggling to breathe, having a seizure, bleeding heavily, or looking so ill that you would not put them in a taxi, stop reading and call 999. Medical Express Clinic has practised at 117a Harley Street since 1984 and is CQC-registered. Those facts describe a planned clinic rather than an emergency department, and an appointment later in the week does not replace an ambulance now.

Also call 999 or go to A&E for a rash that does not fade under a glass, blue, grey or blotchy skin or lips, a floppy or unresponsive child, very fast or laboured breathing, signs of dehydration, or a baby under 3 months with a temperature of 38°C or more.

When is NHS 111 the route?

NHS 111 is the route NHS.uk names when symptoms are urgent but not life-threatening, or when you are not sure whether 999 is required. You can check symptoms online, or call 111. That service exists for evenings, nights, and the rest of the week.

If the problem cannot wait until Monday or Wednesday between 10:00 and 14:00, and it is not a 999 emergency, NHS 111 is the honest door. The clinic remains available for a planned examination once the child can attend.

When is this paediatric GP clinic the visit?

A paediatric GP consultation at Medical Express Clinic is for children aged 3 months to 15 years.

Dr Penny Sheehan, General Practitioner, GMC 6056535, sees them at 117a Harley Street on Monday and Wednesday between 10:00 and 14:00. Walk-in is possible during those hours, although booking is safer because it secures a time and usually shortens the wait.

You do not need a diagnosis before you arrive. Typical reasons include earache, a sore throat, a chest infection or cough, a rash, fever, vomiting or diarrhoea, urinary symptoms, and minor injuries. Growth or development can be raised when you book or when you arrive, and the doctor can take those questions when they fit the consultation.

That is the visit when something will not settle, or something new worries you, and you want a doctor who is used to examining children to look at it in person. One parent or guardian stays throughout. The child is never seen alone.

What is this clinic not?

This is a GP with a special interest in paediatric assessments and consultations. It is not a consultant paediatrician department. Families miss that distinction because the word paediatric sounds like a hospital children's ward, and this room is still general practice.

If the child needs a consultant paediatrician, the clinic can provide a referral letter when that is clinically indicated. How soon the receiving specialist can offer an appointment is not something this clinic can promise. It does not create a consultant clinic in the same building, and it does not freeze a date in someone else's diary.

Routine childhood immunisations are not offered here. If the reason for the visit is the national vaccine schedule, this is the wrong booking. Travel vaccines for a child are a different conversation: call the clinic to discuss what can be arranged.

How does the Monday and Wednesday visit run?

There is no fixed clock on the consultation. It is rarely beyond 30 minutes. Dr Sheehan takes a history from you, examines your child, and agrees a plan before you leave. Medicine names, allergy details, and any letters or results you already hold help the doctor spend that time on the child in front of them rather than reconstructing last week from memory.

Photo identification is required for the parent or guardian and for the child. A birth certificate is accepted if the child has no passport. A copy is kept in the child's medical record. One parent or legal guardian is enough, and that person must stay with the child throughout.

Walk-ins are accepted during the Monday and Wednesday window of 10:00 to 14:00. Booking remains the safer way to arrive, because the list can already be full. If something during the examination is uncomfortable, say so. The doctor will pause and explain what is happening. The plan at the end may be advice, a prescription if medicine is needed, a test in clinic, a review, or a referral letter.

What about prescriptions, tests and vaccines?

If a prescription is written during the paid visit, because the doctor decides medicine is needed, there is no extra clinic fee for writing it. Pharmacy medicines are charged separately. A prescription is not guaranteed.

Blood tests, urine tests and swabs can be done at the clinic when the doctor thinks they would help. They sit outside the consultation, and those costs are discussed before the tests go ahead. Numbing cream is available in clinic for blood sampling, which makes the procedure easier for many children, though it does not make it painless.

Follow-up for existing paediatric patients exists. If the doctor asks you to come back, or you need to review the same problem once results are in, contact the clinic to arrange that review.

What about age 16 and the adult GP?

From age 16, this paediatric clinic is the wrong diary. Young people aged 16 and over use the standard adult GP consultation, a different service in the same building. A 15-year-old still belongs here, with a parent or guardian in the room. A 16-year-old belongs on the adult GP list.

What helps beforehand?

Decide which door you are walking through before you travel.

• A severely unwell child is 999 or A&E, not Harley Street.
• Urgent illness that is not life-threatening can go to NHS 111, especially outside Monday and Wednesday, 10:00 to 14:00.
• This paediatric GP clinic is for children aged 3 months to 15 years who need an in-person examination of a problem that can wait for that window.
• Age 16 uses the adult GP.
• Book if you can.
• Walk-in is possible during clinic hours, although a listed slot is the safer way to be seen.
• Bring photo identification for you and for your child, and a birth certificate if there is no passport.
• Bring a medicines list and any letters or results you already hold.
• Say if growth or development is part of the worry, so that question is in the room from the start.
• If the problem is the national immunisation schedule, do not book this clinic for that.
• If you are asking about travel vaccines, call before you set out.
• If a consultant paediatrician is needed, the clinic can write a referral letter.
• Timing of that specialist appointment is not guaranteed.

What should you avoid?

Do not keep a severely unwell child at home because you have a Harley Street appointment later in the week.

• Do not treat a private paediatric diary as an emergency department, and do not treat NHS 111 as optional when the problem cannot wait until Monday or Wednesday.
• Do not bring a 16-year-old to this list, and do not leave a child in the waiting room while you go in alone, because the parent or guardian stays throughout and the child is never seen alone.
• Do not arrive without photo identification for both of you.
• Do not assume this is a consultant paediatrician department, and do not assume a referral letter comes with a date.
• Do not expect routine childhood immunisations.
• Do not expect tests or pharmacy medicines to sit inside the consultation fee, because extra work is discussed first.
• If you do want the paediatric GP visit, the details sit on the paediatric GP page, or you can call 020 7499 1991.

Related guides: when to see a private GP and choosing an allergy test.