Immunology & Allergy
The Department will periodically contact patients waiting for an outpatient clinic appointment via SMS, with a link to an electronic form. This is part of routine waitlist auditing to ensure patient details are up to date. If you receive this SMS, please update your details.
ConditionsConditions
There is no condition information for this clinic
The Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) is a newly established statewide specialist service for the assessment and management of allergic and immunologic diseases.
Availability
North 
South North West Statewide 
Scope
Clinical Immunologists deal with conditions in three main areas:
- Allergy – immunological reaction against harmless substances
- Immunodeficiency – increase in the frequency or severity of infections
- Autoimmunity/autoinflammatory – immunological reaction against the self
This service incorporates the RHH Jack Jumper Allergy Clinic and RHH Supervised COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic.
It is distinct from the RHH Paediatric Allergy Clinic, the Tasmanian Specialist Immunisation and Allergy Clinic, and the Specialist Paediatric Immunisation Service.
We provide outpatient clinical services as well as consultation to hospital inpatients and day-patient admissions for procedures.
Out of hours on-call and inpatient admissions are currently outside of the scope of this service.
Our Services/Procedures:
- Clinical consultation
- Skin prick testing for allergy diagnosis
- Immunotherapy/Desensitisation for allergy treatment
- Challenge testing for diagnosis of food or drug allergy
- Assessment and management (including supervised immunisation) of suspected vaccine allergy.
Services We Provide/Clinical Conditions Appropriate For Referral:
- Anaphylaxis to drugs, insects, foods and unknown cause
- Urticaria and angioedema
- Hereditary angioedema
- Drug allergy
- Allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis
- Non-allergic rhinitis
- Allergic and non-allergic sinusitis, nasal polyposis
- Asthma, allergic and non-allergic
- Venom and aeroallergen immunotherapy
- Food allergy
- Severe eczema
- Eosinophilic oesophagitis and other eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease
- Mast cell disorders
- Systemic autoinflammatory diseases / Periodic fever syndromes
- Immunodeficiency, hereditary and acquired (not HIV).
- Irritable bowel syndrome/suspected food intolerance (except on referral or recommendation from gastroenterologist)
- Large local reactions to insect stings
- Chronic fatigue syndrome/multiple chemical sensitivity/fibromyalgia/post COVID-19 syndrome
- Contact dermatitis/patch testing for contact allergens (refer to dermatology)
- Acute or chronic urticaria which has remitted (unless allergic cause suspected)
- Children under 18 years (unless for insect allergy)
What we don't see/conditions excluded from service:
Emergency conditions
The following conditions are medical emergencies and require immediate transfer to the RHH emergency department:
- Anaphylaxis
- Angioedema with threat to the airway
- Acute severe asthma
Referral process
Referrals need sufficient information to allow triage and act as a clinical handover and must conform to the standard – see For Clinicians.
Referrals are registered by the clinic to which they are referred and are triaged according to the specific clinic guidelines.
Condition | Likely Triage Category | Information required to determine urgency/Prerequisite information |
Anaphylaxis | Urgent Semi-Urgent | Severity– e.g., hypotension, collapse adrenaline treatment, admitted to hospital Cause- known, unknown, avoidable Recurrence Has/has not adrenaline autoinjector |
Food allergy | Semi-Urgent Non-Urgent | Severity of reactions Known/unknown food Multiple foods Nutritional impact |
Rhinitis/Sinusitis | Semi-Urgent Non-Urgent | Interference with daily activities Response to medications Nasal obstruction, anosmia Sinus infections |
Asthma | Urgent Semi-Urgent Routine | Severity of attacks, symptoms Response to medications Likely allergic triggers |
Immunodeficiency | Semi-Urgent Routine | Severity, frequency of infections Immunoglobulin levels Infectious pathogens, antibiotic requirement Atypical infections, family history Established diagnosis On immunoglobulin replacement |
Drug/Vaccine/Contrast Allergy | Urgent Semi-Urgent Routine | Urgent indication for suspected allergen Multiple allergies/limited options Nature of previous adverse reactions |
Chronic Urticaria | Semi-Urgent Routine | Duration, severity of urticaria Association with systemic symptoms Response to antihistamines |
Angioedema | Urgent Semi-Urgent | Frequency, severity Involvement of airway |
Periodic fever/ Autoinflammatory syndrome | Semi-Urgent Routine | Fever, rash, organ involvement, family history |
Mast cell disorder | Urgent Semi-Urgent Routine | Anaphylaxis, recurrent mastocytosis attacks Organ, systemic involvement Predominant cutaneous involvement |
Severe eczema (as part of multidisciplinary investigation and management) | Routine | Primary referral to dermatology |
Clinic Appointments - Appointments are based on clinical priority:
Emergency
Proceed to Emergency Department (ED).
LGH ED Reception – Phone: (03) 6777 6405 Fax: (03) 6777 5201
MCH ED* – Phone: (03) 6478 5120 Fax: (03) 6441 5923
NWRH ED* – Phone: (03) 6493 6351 Fax: (03) 6464 1926
RHH ED Reception – Phone: (03) 6166 6100 Fax: (03) 6173 0489
Advice for medical practitioners can be given by the Medical Officer In Charge (MOIC) - see HealthPathways Tasmania
for contact information.
*MCH and NWRH MOICs request GPs call them prior to referring a patient to ensure the patient is being sent appropriately to a safe destination.
Urgent / category 1
We will endeavour to see these patients within 4 weeks.
Urgent referrals should be accompanied by a phone call to the Consultant/Registrar or Clinic Nurse to organise urgent review.
Semi-urgent / category 2
We will endeavour to see these patients within 12 weeks
Routine / category 3
Next available appointment
Referral template
For use by health professionals only
