Private ENT Consultant?

[StarlightDicKenzie]

My DD can't hear much at all. Went to GP and begged for a referral to consultant. After 4 weeks of waiting I have to book an appointment for an 'initial hearing test' at the children's centre. I can't get one for 5 weeks.

Her tonsils are also enourmous and she can't eat as she chokes on her food. I told the GP this but it was dismissed. I am very worried and want her seen asap as it is affecting our lives and our relationship and, I expect, her development (she is 3.5).

Has anyone got any recommendations of how to either speed up the process or pay privately for at least one step to get it a move on?

Many tia

We had the same problem with dd2, even though she was under the local ENT department on the NHS, we couldn't get an appointment for ages and she was choking on food and had dreadful sleep apnoea - she was barely 2.

In the end we went to see the NHS consultant (whom we liked and trusted but couldn't get an appointment with) privately for a one off consult - he was outraged that we hadn't been able to get an appointment, and made sure dd was operated on, on his NHS list, within a couple of weeks. It has, honestly, changed all our lives - so I do understand

If you can go privately, that might be a way forward - yoy need to get a referral from your GP (maybe not the dismissive one, any others in the practice??) but as soon as they've given you the name of a Consultant, you can go ahead and book the appointment: as long as the GP's letter is in the pipeline, iyswim, they should give you an appointment. Its taken days for me to get seen that way in the past.

Wishing you the best, I really do know how it feels xx

I was recently considering a private ENT consult after my appointment came through on the NHS for 8 weeks away

I called the local private hospital and an appt with the same person I would see on the NHS was £160 for the initial consult, excluding any tests he wanted to do which would also need to be paid for on the day.

Your GP should be able to refer you to a private consultant if you ask.

otherwise you can contact the Royal College of Surgeons and ask for a list of ENT consultants in your area.

My DD saw her consultant privatly, moved things along much faster. SHe had her intial appointment, grommit operation and 6 week follow up before her urgent NHS appointment date!

What area are you based in?

We're in St Albans but would travel to London etc.

What I'm so cross about is that we haven't even been referred to an ENT. As I understand it (from going through the same rigmorole with DS) you wait weeks for an 'initial screening' then you get another one 3-4 months later to confirm the negative test wasn't a one off, and then you have to go to your GP who puts it on the agenda for the fortnightly 'panel' where they decide if they will refer, and then it takes two weeks for the letter to go out and then you get put on the waiting list.

With DS I was able to skip parts of the process because he had just won via tribunal a year of intensive SALT which would have gone to waste so I pleaded cost-efficiency etc and got somewhere (although not especially fast).

But she doesn't need an 'initial screening'. It's blatently obvious she can't hear. Even the GP couldn't communicate with her.

How frustrating! Yes, I would go privately then.

Starlight, I have a private ENT on Harley St. PM me if you'd like his details - he's actually an otolaryngologist (sp?) and I cannot recommend him enough.

I see a fantastic ENT. He works in the NHS, Harley Street and a few other private clinics. He works at Spire Bushey, so not far from you. Feel free to message me if you want his name.

Okay. I have to apologise for being cross with my GP. She DID refer directly to the ENT. But it was the ENT who insisted on results from a hearing test before he/she would see her, and refuses to make an appointment until the results come back.

The delay is the ENT Consultant NOT the GP.

Have called the ENT secretary and she has agreed to speak to them (sure she promises the moon to most callers though so not hopeful). I suppose I might also be able to call the GP and tell her she has been overridden which might motivate her to write a more urgent strong letter.

I'll give it a couple of days, but will PM you Lucid for backup. Thank you.

Hi there

Thought I'd send you my ENT man's details:

uchnc.com/bio_pof.html

www.harleystreetguide.co.uk/doctors/directory/?entryid43=105119&char=O

I saw him a few weeks ago and it was £100 for a consultation. He is a very nice man as well as being an excellent doctor.

Hope this helps!

You are near me!

We see dd's consultant at Spire Harpenden. He operates at the L&D. If you have no luck with your ENT team then contact me for details.

Okay, so I called the 'initial hearing' people and the earliest they can offer an 'initial' hearing screening is 20th March

WHere is the hearing screening?

Thank you Lucid, HowCan and Going. I'm gonna give some grief and then probably get back to you.

Should I write to the NHS ENT Consultant myself asking what on earth the point of a hearing test is on a girl that can't hear and are they happy with the risk that this delay could cause permenant hearing loss (which I understand it can)?

Is there another ENT department you could request you get transferred to?

Because we've never had to do that with ds who has grommets, and his ENT appointments were within 6 weeks of referrals (I think it was less than a month) and grommets in almost immediately (the second set it was 2 days later).

I'd suspect that this initial hearing test is just a way of diverting people for a while, and hope the hearing issues clear up in the meantime.

They need the hearing test to work out exactly what hearing loss she's suffering from. There are varying degrees of loss, from mild through to profoundly deaf. Even if she's not responding to sounds at the moment, it's possible that she would benefit from a hearing aid and in order to fit one, they need to know what residual hearing she has.

StarlightDicKenzie, I'm surprised you are having problems as we have had an excellent experience with audiology in St Albans. Have you been referred to paediatic audiolgy or ENT. With a young child you need a proper paediatic audiologist to get a decent test. There is no point in seeing the ENT consultant without seeing an audiologist first.

If you want to be seen quicker its worth phoning up and saying that you would take a cancellation at short notice and that you are prepare to travel to St Albans, Hemel, Watford or Stevenage if necessary.

We have always seen Mrs Spragg at St Albans or Hemel and she is very good I imagine that there is a good chance that she would be the person you would see at the children's centre. She will be able to tell you if your daughter's hearing loss is caused by glue by doing Tyrimetry or she will do a bone conduction test if you are concerned that your daughter's hearing loss is sensory. She will take the take to explain to you the results of an audiogram if you ask her and explain treatment options.

My son had extremely severe glue ear. He had grommets which were a disaster and he hearing aids for 18 months. At the age of ten he has good hearing inspite of numerous perforations of both ear drums.

I'm almost 100% certain it is glue ear. Everyone in my family has had grommets (I had 8 sets) and ds has them in. DS' private SALT says she's at risk of glue ear due to her ear-nose alignment.

I don't object to the hearing test. I object to a 5-6 month wait for an appointment with an ENT for a 3.5 yr old that can't hear.

With ds, they did the hearing test just before the ENT appointment, and we waited just two weeks for it, but that was a different PCT.

My son failed a hearing test at the children's centre. He was seen by ENT four weeks later and then had grommets 6 weeks after seeing ENT. Admitally he was prioritised by the community paediatrian.

ENT has a policy of watchful waiting with glue ear. Even if you were referred sooner its unlikely that they would operate straight away.

The reason is that grommets can sometimes go catrosphotically wrong. There is a risk of permament hearing loss with grommets. An alternative to grommets is temporary hearing aids. The audiologist will help you decide on the right option.

Thanks. I know too of the risk of permenant hearing loss in not releasing the pressure of glue ear so I am very concerned NOT that she won't have grommets asap, but that she won't even be SEEN.

Grrrrrrrr

One of my sets of grommets gave me a perforated eardrum that I had to have mended under GA, and I had so many that I also know they aren't necessarily a permenant fix. I just want her seen though so that she doesn't lose 6 months of development and get in trouble for not complying with instructions by her preschool teachers and me.