General Audiology Appointment Information

General Audiology Appointment Information

Who are we?

The Department of Audiology & Audiovestibular Medicine at St George’s Hospital deals with the diagnosis and management of hearing (auditory) and balance (vestibular) disorders. The department strives to provide you with a service that ensures you are considered and consulted on all matters, with your care being our priority. The clinical team consists of audiologists, assistant audiologists, audiovestibular physicians, hearing therapists and audiology students. The department has a number of outreach clinics, including Tooting Health Centre, Trevelyan House and St John’s Therapy Centre.

Where do appointments take place?

Appointments can take place at one of several locations. Please always check the front page of your appointment letter to see where your appointment has been booked. This may be a different site to where you have been seen by us previously. Travel information and contact details for the different sites can be found on St George’s Audiology Clinic Locations or on https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/contact-and-find-us/.

Appointment information:

• When you attend for your appointment, you must check in at the reception desk so that we know you have arrived
• At your visit, depending on what the appointment is for, you will be seen by an audiologist, an assistant audiologist, or an audiovestibular physician
  • An audiologist is a health-care professional who carries out assessments and rehabilitation surrounding hearing and other ear problems.
  • Our assistant audiologists are practitioners who have been trained to repair and make basic adjustments to hearing aids, and in some cases take impressions for ear moulds
  • Audiovestibular Physicians (AVPs) are doctors who investigate, diagnose and manage hearing, balance and communication disorders in adults and children from birth onwards. At your appointment, you may be seen by a Consultant or Specialist Registrar.
• We are a teaching hospital. Therefore, you may see an audiology student as well who is under direct or indirect supervision. If you do not want to see a student, please make this known prior to your appointment.
• Please advise us in advance if you would like a chaperone so that we can ensure this is arranged for your appointment. If during your appointment you decide you would like a chaperone, please let your clinician know.
• It can be helpful to bring a significant other with you for appointments, to support you with decision making and information sharing. We recommend that you do bring someone you feel comfortable to have with you in the appointment.
• Important: If your appointment is for a hearing test, the hearing testing room needs to be silent for the duration of the appointment. If other children are accompanying you to the clinic and they are not developmentally ready to remain silent for the entire appointment, please ensure that the necessary child supervision is in place for them as they wait in the waiting area whilst the testing takes place.

 What do I need to do to prepare for an audiology appointment? 

Hearing Aids

If you have been previously fitted with hearing aids at St George’s Hospital, please ensure to bring them along to the appointment so that the appointment can go ahead as planned.

Earwax

Some of the procedures can be contraindicated if there is too much wax in your ears. It is important to ensure your ears are free of wax to ensure the appointment can go ahead as planned and your appointment is not wasted. Your audiologist will not be able to remove the ear wax for you at the appointment.

If you suspect that you have wax build up in your ears, we suggest that for around one week immediately prior to your appointment you use drops to soften any earwax you may have in your ear. Do not use drops if you have a hole in the eardrum.

Please see https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/earwax-build-up/ for further instructions on how to do this.

Young children / those who might be wary of having their ears touched / wearing headphones:

If the appointment is for your child, in the weeks leading up to the appointment, doing the following at home can help your child to become more comfortable with our ear checks on the day of the appointment:

• Massage the child’s ears regularly
• If you already have one at home, checking your child’s temperature with an ear thermometer a few times
• From time to time in the home environment, share with your child a pair of headphones for them to listen to music / watch shows through; this will help them become comfortable with wearing these and show them they can be fun!

Appointment rescheduling, interpreter booking and date / time / location queries:

• If you are unable to attend your appointment, it is your responsibility to contact our bookings team to reschedule your appointment.
• For appointment time / location / rescheduling enquiries, or to book an interpreter for your appointment please contact the central booking service. If you are unable to hear on the phone, please contact enquiries@stgeorges.nhs.uk .

 Other appointment queries

If you have any queries about what will take place during your appointment, about your access needs or other similar queries please contact: audiologist.enquiries@stgeorges.nhs.uk

Accessibility

• Some of our hearing test spaces are small (with space for one person only), so please contact us once receiving this letter if you feel this will be a concern for you
• The waiting room at Lanesborough Wing is large, so if you are worried you won’t hear your name being called you can ask for a vibrating pager from the receptionists. It will start buzzing when the audiologist is ready for you and you can meet them at the reception desk
• Please contact us on audiologist.enquiries@stgeorges.nhs.uk if you have any queries about the accessibility of the clinic location for your appointment.
• If you require non-emergency hospital transport services, please kindly visit https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/during-your-visit/patient-transport/,

• If you require this letter in large print, or any future letters or information in large print, please contact us at audiologist.enquiries@stgeorges.nhs.uk

 Please contact us:

If you have any feedback you would like to share with us, please visit the Trust website for further guidance on how you can do this:

https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/patient-involvement/

If you are unable to hear or speak over the phone:

If you are unable to hear or speak over the phone and would like to contact us then please email audiologist.enquiries@stgeorges.nhs.uk