A second look, from someone with no stake in the first.
A second opinion on a child’s diagnosis is a full 45-minute consultation with a consultant paediatrician — £350 by video or £395 in person. Send your clinic letters, results and scans when you book; the consultant reads them before you meet and gives you an independent view in writing afterwards, including where they agree with the original.
When a second opinion is worth getting
When the explanation has never quite fitted what you are seeing at home. When a diagnosis was made quickly, in a busy clinic, and nobody has revisited it since. When treatment is not working and the response has been to try more of it. When you have been told to wait and see for longer than waiting and seeing feels reasonable. Or when something significant is about to be decided and you want a second mind on it first.
It is also reasonable to want one for no articulable reason at all. Parents are usually right that something is off, even when they cannot say what.
What we do with the records
Send whatever you have and do not worry about ordering it: clinic letters, discharge summaries, blood results, imaging reports and the images themselves, growth charts, your red book, school reports, and any notes you have kept yourself. Parent notes are evidence, not clutter — they are often the only continuous record of what actually happened.
The consultant reads all of it before the appointment. That is deliberate: it means the forty-five minutes is spent on your child rather than on catching up.
What you get
An independent view, in writing. Where we agree with the original opinion we say so as plainly as where we do not, and we explain the reasoning either way so you can weigh it yourself rather than choosing between two authorities.
Where we disagree, you get what to do about it — the test that would settle it, the specialist who should see them, the question to put to the original team. A second opinion that ends in a different assertion and no next step has not helped you.
Why video suits this particularly well
A second opinion turns mostly on records. The examination matters less here than in a first presentation, because someone has usually already examined your child — often more than once — and the question is what the accumulated evidence means. That work can be done as well over video as in a room, which is why most second opinions here are taken remotely.
If examining your child would change the answer, we say so and bring you in.
What a second opinion is not
It is not a route to a diagnosis you have decided on in advance, and it is not an appeal against the first opinion. If the original assessment was sound, you will be told that — and for many families that is the outcome they were actually looking for, because being told the same thing by someone independent is what finally lets you stop worrying.
It is also not the only route. Your GP can request one, and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health publishes guidance on how external second opinions work. If that is the better route for you, we will say so.
Common questions
- Do I need my current doctor’s permission to get a second opinion?
- No. You can arrange a private second opinion directly, and you do not need to tell the original team unless you want to. Most families do tell them eventually, because the point of a second opinion is usually to improve the care your child is already receiving rather than to replace it.
- What records should I send?
- Everything you have — clinic letters, discharge summaries, results, imaging reports and images, growth charts, your red book, school reports, and your own notes. Send them when you book so the consultant can read them before your appointment.
- What if you agree with the original diagnosis?
- You will be told so plainly, with the reasoning. That is a legitimate and common outcome, and for many parents it is the one that finally settles the question.
- Will you write to my child’s current team?
- With your consent, yes. A written summary can go to your GP and to the treating team, which is usually the fastest way to get a second opinion acted on rather than filed.