An online paediatrician, wherever you are.

Most of a paediatric assessment is history rather than examination. What has been happening, for how long, what makes it better or worse, what has already been tried, what your instinct is telling you. That conversation is the part that takes forty-five minutes, and it works as well over video as it does in a room.

The consultant can also see a great deal by watching. How your child breathes, how they move, how they hold themselves, how they feed, how they respond to you and to a stranger. Parents often bring photographs and videos of the thing that worries them — a rash, a limp, an odd movement, a breathing pattern at night — which are frequently more useful than an examination of a child who is well by the time they are seen.

• A full history, taken without hurrying
• Growth, weight and head circumference plotted on UK-WHO centiles from your own measurements or your red book
• Results, letters and scans read in advance and explained properly
• Photographs and videos of the problem reviewed
• A working diagnosis, or a clear plan for reaching one
• Prescriptions where they are clinically appropriate
• Referrals for tests, imaging and other specialists
• A written plan the same day, and a letter to your GP with your consent

Video cannot palpate an abdomen, feel a lump, look inside ears and throats, or listen to a chest. Where any of those would change the advice, we say so during the appointment and bring you in — and we would rather tell you that in the first ten minutes than take the fee and leave you no further forward.

If your child needs examining, the in-person appointment is charged at the in-person rate and the difference is £45. You are not asked to pay twice for the same consultation.

Families abroad, or moving between countries, who want a British consultant paediatrician looking at the whole picture. Parents who cannot get to a clinic with a baby, a toddler and a school run in the same afternoon. Anyone who wants a second opinion on a diagnosis, where the work is mostly in the records rather than the room.

It also suits the appointment nobody quite books: the one where a parent has been told everything is fine three times and still knows something is not right. Video lowers the cost of asking properly.

A video appointment is never the right route for a seriously unwell child. If your child is struggling to breathe, unresponsive, having a fit, or has a rash that does not fade when you press a glass against it, call 999 or go to your nearest emergency department. For urgent advice out of hours, call 111.

We would rather lose the booking than have a parent sit in a waiting room online while a child gets worse.

You complete a short intake when you book — your child’s age, what has been happening, and how long for. Anything you already have goes up with it: clinic letters, discharge summaries, results, scans, growth charts, photographs. The consultant reads it all before you meet, so the appointment starts where your story has got to rather than at the beginning.

You join by secure video from a link. Both parents can join from different places, which is often easier than getting everyone to one room. Afterwards you receive a written plan, and your GP is written to with your consent.