Borders Ref Help Toolkit
Who can refer:
We take referrals primarily from general practitioners and our specialist colleagues in Ear, Nose & Throat, but we also welcome referrals from other healthcare practitioners.
Who to refer:
Adults
- Any patient with a suspected hearing loss.
- Any patient who may require assessment for a hearing aid.
- Any patient with tinnitus or hyperacusis.
Children
- Any child who has given their family or involved professional reason to suspect that they may have an ongoing hearing problem.
- Children with a significant speech and language delay.
- Children with significant developmental delay or disability.
Who not to refer:
NHS Borders Audiology do not provide any services for managing patients with BPPV – please refer directly to ENT for these patients.
If any of the following criteria are evident at the time of referral, the patient should be referred directly to the Ear Nose & Throat department. or other local specialist pathways, and NOT to Audiology:
History:
- (sudden = within 72 hours), unilateral or bilateral, should be sent to A&E or Urgent Care ENT clinic within 24 hours. Due to the variety of causes of sudden hearing loss, the treatment timescale should be decided locally by the medical team. Prompt treatment may increase the likelihood of recovery.
- Altered sensation or numbness in the face or observed facial droop.
- Persistent pain affecting either ear, which is intrusive and which has not resolved as a result of prescribed treatment. (As a general guideline, this includes pain in or around the ear, lasting a week or more in recent months).
- History of discharge (other than wax) from either ear within the last 90 days, which has not resolved or responded to prescribed treatment, or which is recurrent.
- Rapid loss or rapid deterioration of hearing (rapid = 90 days or less).
- Fluctuating hearing loss, other than associated with colds.
- Tinnitus, which is persistent and which:
- is pulsatile
- has significantly changed in nature.
- Vertigo other than that associated with BPPV.
How to refer:
All referrals should be via SCI gateway to Audiology at Borders General Hospital.
Borders General Hospital -> Audiology -> Borders General Referral