Health Professionals

The Right Care in the Right Place

House of Hearing is the first independent clinic in the country to be registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). This means that we demonstrate the highest level of care for our patients and that we are committed to ongoing improvement. When you refer a patient to House of Hearing you can trust that our service has met the requirements of HIS and you can have the confidence that the service comes with the quality assurance that registration implies.

You can find our registration with Healthcare Improvement Scotland here.

At House of Hearing we are delighted when we can accept referrals and refer on where appropriate. If you are a Health Care Professional whose patient would like to access the specialist facilities available in one of our clinics, then we would be happy to see them. We accept referrals most commonly for our Clinical Ear Care clinics which are unique in Scotland as they are ENT trained and Nurse led.

Since the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) offered guidance that ear syringing is no longer acceptable practice, it is not always clear which clinical ear care services should be offered and in what setting. NICE also go on to recommend that patients can be referred to a specialist ear care service and that is exactly what we provide. For more detail on that NICE guidance, click here

Why Can Ear Wax be a Problem?

Everybody has ear wax and we all understand that the ear produces it for very good reasons. Sometimes however an ear will become blocked and this can happen for a variety of reasons because ear wax is created by modified sweat glands.

A common reason for blocked ear canals of course is self-treatment by patients by using cotton buds. In many cases unfortunately patients will simply push wax back in, rather than getting it out.

How can Patients Help Themselves?

Firstly of course we don’t recommend using cotton buds. The human body has evolved to create a clever way to expel ear wax and this is called migration. Patients will experience this when their ear canal becomes itchy and a simple wipe of the ear canal entrance with a clean tissue will suffice. Often this is taken care of in daily ablutions.

For those who have been told that they suffer with over production of ear wax, then we do not recommend using ear drops until they have been assessed by one of our Clinical Ear Care team. Using drops without prior assessment may hinder the wax removal procedure rather than help.

We always advise against patients putting anything else in the ear canal like car keys, cocktail sticks and knitting needles. Yes, we’ve heard it all!

Why Refer Patients to House of Hearing?

House of Hearing provides the only five day a week Clinical Ear Care service in Scotland. Appointments are sometimes available on the day with most patients seen within 48 hours. Our clinicians use digital imagery which can be shared with patients immediately and where we find that there is no need for treatment* then they will not proceed.

A medical case history is obtained, and patient consent sought before we proceed with any of the treatments described below. Appointments will last for 30 mins and follow up appointments will be arranged for more challenging cases.

The list below includes the highlights of the services that are available to patients with limited (48 hours) waiting time.

• The House of Hearing Clinical Ear Care Service is led by Melanie Jackson who is a Band 7 Nurse with 20 years ENT experience. This includes working as Ward Sister at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and Otology and Skull Base Nurse Practitioner at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge.
• Experience running wax removal clinics since 2007.
• Clinical skills include irrigation, microsuction and instrumentation to remove wax and foreign bodies. Care and management of wax, post-surgical ears including mastoid cavities. Care of perforations, otitis externa, otitis media, exostosis and Eustachian tube dysfunction.
• Private referrals to an ENT surgeon where appropriate.
• Paediatric trained in Clinical Ear Care. Wax removal on children from 2 years and above where appropriate.

*A £20 charge is made for assessment only

How to Refer Patients to House of Hearing

We can accept referrals directly or you can simply ask the patient to call and make an appointment.