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Specialist Clinics

Headaches

  • Statewide referral criteria have been created for this condition and will be in use from 1st December 2026. For more information please see the Department of Health: Headache in children.

    Introduction

    This guideline relates to headaches in paediatric patients. For more information on assessment and management, please see: Clinical Practice Guidelines:Headache

    When to refer

    • Recurrent hemiplegic migraine
    • A child currently in out of home care (OOHC), or at risk of entering or leaving OOHC, where they have previously been on a waiting list for this problem and were removed without receiving a service
    • Idiopathic intracranial hypertension referred by a Paediatrician where there is diagnostic uncertainty that headache is due to IIH, failure of response to treatment and no visual impairment on perimetry (no indication for urgent neurosurgical shunting)
    • Migraine that has failed two (2) preventative medications
    • Missing significant amounts of school due to headaches
    • Suspicion of medication overuse

    Wait time for appointments

    Specialist clinic wait times

    Services available closer to home

    Alternative paediatric services available in Victoria:

    • Monash Children’s Hospital

    Pre-referral work up/management

    Referral criteria/required information

    • Detailed history of headache
    • Observations including BP (right arm, with appropriately sized cuff)
    • Current medication history, efficacy (including over-the-counter preparations)
    • Neurological examination including fundoscopy
    • Confirmation of OOHC (where appropriate)

    How to refer

    Specialist Clinics Referral

    Please complete the above and submit via:

    Facsimile (03) 9345 5034 or

    Email screferrals@rch.org.au

    Clinical queries call the Neurology department (03) 9345 5661  

    Resources and links

    Acknowledgements

    The development of this guideline was coordinated by the Department of Neurology. Guideline reviewed in July 2026.