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What's happening at the ENT clinic at BGH?

Posted By krisnik

"What's happening at the ENT clinic at BGH?"

About: Borders General Hospital / Ear, Nose & Throat

(as the patient),

Can someone please tell me what is happening at the ENT Clinic at the BGH.

I attend this clinic several times a year to have my ears cleaned out. I have perforated eardrums as well as being very hard of hearing so syringing is not an option. Wearing my hearing aids causes fungal infections and I have a problem with the hardening of the wax in my ears.

Up until now the service has been marvellous. I last attended in June and was told I would need another appointment in 6 weeks time (around mid July). It is now mid August and no appointment has arrived.

I have called the hospital to be told, I'm on a waiting list and this week was told there is no ENT Clinic at present. I am suffering acute discomfort because of the build-up of wax as well as increased hearing loss.

I have visited my GP who is unaware of any problems at the clinic but has prescribed antibiotic 'just in case'.

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Responses

Response from Susan Cowe, Quality Improvement Facilitator - Person Centred Care, NHS Borders 8 years ago
Susan Cowe
Quality Improvement Facilitator - Person Centred Care,
NHS Borders

Submitted on 24/08/2015 at 17:35
Published on Care Opinion at 21:21

I am sorry for the problems you are experiencing due to the delay in you receiving a further ENT appointment and appreciate the impact this is having on you.

Unfortunately, we did have some staffing issues within our ENT Service.

However, we now have full staffing levels and are working to reduce our waiting time for this service.

I would like to reassure you that we continue to have an ENT Service within NHS Borders and have recently recruited a new ENT Consultant and an additional Registered General Nurse with ENT Skills.

Please contact Trish Wintrup, Senior Nurse & Operational Manager on 01896 826923 so that she can arrange a suitable appointment for you.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by krisnik (the patient)

Thank you for your response. I appreciate that you have had some problems within the department, but would it not have been better to explain this when I called querying the fact that I had not received my appointment. On each of the occasions I called I was just told that I was on a waiting list with absolutely no indication of how long this list was. After 12 weeks when the discomfort was extreme I had no choice but to book an private appointment to have this matter dealt with. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford this on this occasion. Perhaps if there are problems within the department it would be better to communicate this to patients who could then make their own arrangements if necessary

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