General Surgery
General Surgery
General surgeons deal with a wide variety of surgical problems with children. Our areas of focus include foetal consultation, congenital anomalies, solid tumours of childhood, chest and chest wall conditions, head and neck conditions minimally invasive surgery and acute surgical care.
Phone (general enquiries): (03) 8572 3798
Phone (clinic appointments): (03) 8572 3004
About us
The department of General Surgery is comprised of a variety of health professionals including surgeons, specialist registrars, a urology fellow and a surgical resident. We are also supported by a team of Allied Health professionals, from ward to office staff. Our office staff will be your first link to the department and will provide you with appointment information and assistance with scheduling your child’s clinic visit and surgery. If needed they can also provide information to the surgeons and nurses, explain your insurance and financial information and be available to answer your questions.
The bulk of our department’s clinical work is performed at Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, however we also provide outpatient care and elective surgical care to children at Casey Hospital.
Our primary goal is to provide prompt expertise in the diagnosis and management of both straightforward and complex conditions. We treat children from birth to 16 years old, who are referred by their general practitioner or specialists for elective surgery.
Our new operating suite at Monash Children’s Hospital, Clayton features state of the art equipment within its four theatres and procedure room. The new hospital has 96 paediatric inpatient beds in three units, including a 20 bed same-day unit for children who go home the same day as their surgical procedure.
We also perform neonatal surgery on babies and are the only centre which provides fetal surgery in Victoria. Our department has also embraced the role of minimally invasive (keyhole) surgery where appropriate, performing hundreds of these operations each year and almost 1700 general surgeries.
Please note: we do not accept consultations for non-medical circumcisions.
We maintain close working relationships with other paediatric subspecialists and our adult surgical colleagues within Monash Health.
Surgery team
Expertise and services
Common conditions we treat include:
- Hernias
- Inguinal hernia
- Umbilical hernia
- Epigastric hernia
- Femoral hernia
- Testis
- Undescended testis
- Retractile testis
- Ectopic testis
- Acute testicular pain
- Foreskin
- Phimosis (tight foreskin)
- Recurrent balanitis
- Balanitis xerotica obliterans
- Intestinal conditions
- Appendicitis
- Pyloric Stenosis
- Intussusception
- Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease (GORD)
- Malrotation
- Skin/ subcutaneous conditions
- Vascular malformations
- Skin lesions / cysts
- Lymphadenopathy
- Neonatal surgery
- Necrotizing Enterocolitis
- Gastroschisis
- Omphalocele/ Exomphalos
- Diaphragmatic hernia
- Intestinal/ oesophageal atresia
- Anorectal malformations
- Hirschprung’s disease
Clinics
There are a number clinics for children requiring general surgery care at Monash Children’s Hospital:
Clayton campus – new Monash Children’s Hospital
The Paediatric General Surgery Clinic is a Medicare-rebated clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings in the Level 2 (ground floor) Specialist Consulting unit.
Can I change an appointment once it has been booked?
If you wish to change or cancel an appointment, you will need to ring Specialist Consulting at Monash Children’s Hospital on (03) 8572 3004.
Please tell us as soon as possible if you can no longer attend. If we have enough notice, we can offer the appointment to another child.
Casey Outpatients Clinic
A public outpatients’ clinic runs at Casey Hospital for general paediatric surgery. For some complex conditions, referral from the Casey clinic to a Clayton clinic for surgery at Clayton site may be advised.
Referrals
Appointments can be made for your child to be seen in the public outpatient clinic or Monash Specialist Consulting without charge. Your child will need a referral from a registered medical practitioner to attend this clinic.
Overseas/non-Medicare patients are seen in these clinics and charges will apply. For more information on fees and charges please visit our billing and insurance section.
Prior to your child’s appointment the letter containing the details of the appointment will be mailed to you. If you have any questions or difficulties regarding your appointment please call us on the phone number provided in the letter.
If you would like to find out more about what to expect during your child’s visit to surgery at Monash Children’s Hospital, please see here.
Urgent enquiries
For urgent inquiries outside office hours, please call switch on (03) 9594 6666 and page the on-call paediatric surgical registrar.
Referrals
Secure eReferral by HealthLink is now our preferred method of referral.
Find up-to-date information about how to send a referral to Monash Health Specialist Consulting Clinics on the eReferrals page on our website.
All referrals can be made via Monash Children’s Specialist Consulting. Please review the referral guidelines for our unit before completing a referral.
Phone: (03) 8572 3004
Head of Unit: Dr Peter Ferguson
Administrative enquiries
For administrative enquiries please contact:
Peta Young, Executive Assistant
Department of Paediatric General Surgery
Level 5, Monash Children’s Hospital
Monash Health
246 Clayton Road, Clayton, VIC 3168
Phone: +61 3 8572 3798
Fax: +61 3 8572 3007
Email: paedsurgery@monashhealth.org
