Ear, nose and throat surgery

Conditions

Please note this is not an exhaustive list of all conditions for outpatient services and does not exclude consideration for referral unless specifically stipulated in the out of scope section.

Paediatric services

Referrals for children and young people should follow the Children’s Health Queensland referral guidelines.

If any of the following are present or suspected arrange immediate transfer to the emergency department.

Ear

• ENT conditions with associated neurological signs
• Facial weakness, sudden onset
• Foreign body
• Mastoiditis/cholesteatoma, acute & complicated
• Ear canal oedema
• Trauma
• Sudden hearing loss, suspected sensorineural (<72 hours)
• Auricular haematoma

Nose

• Acute bacterial rhinosinusitis – visual disturbance/signs, neurological signs/frontal swelling/severe unilateral or bilateral headache
• Unilateral facial swelling with or without dental sepsis

Throat

• Airway compromise- stridor/drooling breathing difficulty/acute or sudden voice change/severe odynophagia
• Ludwig’s angina
• Acute tonsillitis with airway obstruction and/or unable to tolerate oral intake and/or uncontrolled fever
• Tonsillar haemorrhage
• Acute hoarseness associated with neck trauma or surgery
• Laryngeal obstruction and/or fracture
• Pharyngeal/laryngeal foreign body
• Accidental dislodgement or obstruction of permanent tracheostomy
• New onset of bleeding or shrinkage of laryngectomy stoma
• Abscess or haematoma, (e.g. peritonsillar abscess/quinsy, salivary abscess, septal or auricular haematoma, paranasal sinus pyocele) with or without associated cellulitis

Out of scope services

Not all services are funded in the Queensland public health system. The following are not routinely provided in a public ENT service.

• Chronic bilateral tinnitus
• referral is not indicated unless tinnitus is disabling or associated with changes in hearing loss, aural fullness and/or discharge or vertigo
• Mild/brief orthostatic dizziness
• Hearing aid dispensation (Hearing service program)
• Uncomplicated/chronic symmetrical hearing loss in over 70 years old
• Mild acute rhinosinusitis
• Simple ear drum perforation as a part of acute otitis media
• Aesthetic surgery

Please note
General Practitioners are able to directly refer patients to Queensland Health (QH) Audiologist.

QH Audiologist is able to offer diagnostic hearing assessments which can result in a recommendation of hearing aids or an ENT opinion; however they do not fit hearing aids.

Queensland public hospitals do not dispense conventional or standard hearing aids.

Patients with mild, moderate or severe hearing loss, which is symmetrical, should be referred to a local hearing aid provider.

Hearing aids are provided for children, veterans and pensioners through the Office of Hearing Services, a division of the Federal Department of Health, and are dispensed by local audiologists.

Clinic details

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
Level 8, Ned Hanlon Building

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