Antibiotic Allergy
Our Service
A penicillin allergy label leads to worse outcomes from infections, higher rates of multidrug resistant organisms and longer hospital stays.
Antibiotic allergy labels are often incorrect, with 9 out of 10 patients who report a penicillin allergy not actually being allergic on further testing.
We have an Inpatient Antibiotic Allergy program operating on Mondays and an Outpatient Antibiotic Allergy Clinic operating on Thursdays in the Ambulatory Care Unit.
The clinic may be contacted on 9113 2957 during working hours Monday to Friday.
CEC antibiotic allergy
ASCIA - Allergy Testing - fast facts
Our Clinic
Any patient with an antibiotic allergy who would like their antibiotic allergy reviewed can be referred for outpatient testing at St George Hospital via GP or specialist referral to Dr Richard Sullivan.
A referral form can be found here.
The ASCIA website also has a list of specialists in your area who do allergy testing.
The Antibiotic Allergy Outpatient Testing Clinic operates at the Ambulatory Care Unit on 2 East every Thursday.
The clinic can assess and test any patient with any reported antibiotic allergy.
The clinic can perform antibiotic skin testing and oral challenges, confirm if the antibiotic allergy is true, and determine which antibiotics can be given safely. This provides many more options for infection treatment and surgical prophylaxis in future.
Our Specialist Team
Our vibrant Antibiotic Allergy Team includes Health Professionals who work in Infectious Diseases, involving both doctors and nurses.
| Staff Specialists | |
| Infectious Diseases | Dr Richard Sullivan |
| Nursing | |
| Registered Nurse | Sara |
| Registered Nurse | Kate |
| Registered Nurse | Isabella |
| Administration | |
| Administrator | Lisa |
Referral Criteria
Any adult patient reporting any antibiotic allergy, including both recent and distant (e.g., childhood) reactions.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age > 16 years with any reported antibiotic allergy
Exclusion Criteria
- Non-antibiotic allergies
How to send a referral
Please use this referral form or send a referral letter to Dr Richard Sullivan to seslhd-sgh-allergy@health.nsw.gov.au or fax (02) 9113 4058.
Please ensure that all the mandatory information is completed on the form. The referral form ensures that you do not miss any important information to enable a timely and appropriate referral.
Please note the following whilst completing the referral:
- You must address the referral to the Consultant from our Specialist team, not the hospital, clinic, outpatient department or JMO
- The Antibiotic Allergy clinic requires referrals from either a GP or a Specialist medical officer
- You must sign and date the referral, and include your provider number and practice address
- You must provide this referral prior to the appointment date.
Referrals that do not meet the above criteria will not be processed by our team.
A member of our administration team will contact the patient with an appointment date once your referral is received and has been triaged. If you have not heard from anyone from our team by two weeks please call 91132957 to follow up with your referral.
If an appointment is missed or cancelled, we will call the patient with a plan to reschedule.
Costs for patients and rebates
We are a Medicare service. You must provide a referral that is addressed to our specialist doctor. Your patient will be bulk billed.