Why we Stayed Open for Ear Care Throughout Lockdown

Living with hearing loss is not easy and even more so when a lockdown was imposed to help relieve the spread of Coronavirus back at the end of March. The lockdown created a more concentrated situation in which, even having a mild hearing loss the feelings of isolation and being cut off from loved ones was much more pronounced.

At House of Hearing we immediately scaled down our clinic service and adapted to new ways of working to protect patients and staff.

Our Edinburgh clinic remained open for emergency ENT services led with the clinical supervision of our ENT Nurse Practitioner, Melanie Jackson. With few alternatives for patients to receive treatments for blocked ears being available during lockdown, Melanie was kept busy treating urgent cases coming to us directly or being referred to us from GP practices and hospitals around Scotland. Getting used to social distancing, heightened levels of hygiene and increased use of PPE* was all part of making sure that those patients seeking emergency care remained safe.
Fortunately, the Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) registration that the House of Hearing, Edinburgh clinic achieved in 2019 was most helpful in providing robust infection control guidelines in how to deliver care safely. Our Edinburgh clinic remains the only private ENT Nurse-led ear wax removal service in Scotland with this level of registration.

For those patients who were shielding or did not feel ready to leave their home, we continued to offer help with contactless support in a variety of different ways. Hearing aids could be posted in for repair or if you were local to one of our clinics picked up from your doorstep. Hearing aid consumables such as batteries could also be posted out to you or we could even assist you over a video call - several patients and their loved ones were helped with their hearing aids over Zoom video consultations!

All of this is really important because lockdown will continue to have a lasting impact on the mental health of the nation and poor hearing will only add to that. Evidence supports that untreated hearing loss can lead to mental health issues such as dementia, so it is essential to help patients to hear as well as they can.

At House of Hearing we have been the hearing specialists for over 50 years and we look forward to helping patients for another 50, even through the toughest of times.

All of our audiologists are members of the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (BSHAA) and each are also registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), giving you and your family the peace of mind that you will only be seen by a fully qualified registered clinician.

So if you or a loved one has concerns about a hearing loss or blocked ear, call and make an appointment with the hearing experts on 0131 220 1220 or email enquiries@houseofhearing.co.uk

*Personal Protective Equipment such as face mask, visor, disposable apron and gloves