Audiology

The Audiology department in East Sussex are an experienced team dedicated to providing patient care to over 35,000 users within the area.

Audiology comprises both Adult and Paediatrics (including new-born hearing screening) services.

In addition to the audiologists, assistant technical officer’s and the admin team, the service manages the hearing screening programme (with dedicated hearing screeners). There is also a dedicated senior specialist nurse who specialises in paediatric audiology, working closely with community paediatricians.

Adult audiology receive approximately 1,500 new referrals each year, paediatrics receive over 1,200 referrals per year.

Our audiologists are experienced in diagnostic audiology. The clinical leads are experienced in electrophysiological testing such as Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) on babies, children and adults. The service works closely with ENT consultants, supporting their outpatient clinics.

High specification digital hearing aids suitable for the patient’s individual needs are offered to all appropriate patients. Our main hearing aid provider is PHONAK.

Several members of the team are skilled in Tinnitus management and counselling for both adults and children.

Patient Referral Criteria

If you are over 55 years of age you can be referred by your General Practitioner (GP) to be seen by the audiology team. Please discuss this with your GP.

If you are under 55 years of age please discuss with your GP who can advise – the normal referral route is then via the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Department.

Children under 18 years are seen by our specialist paediatric teams.

Local Services

Our two main sites are at Conquest Hospital in Hastings and Park Practice Primary Care Centre in Eastbourne (this services also see patients for diagnosis and testing at Outpatients area B at Eastbourne DGH). We also provide services at Bexhill Hospital.

Waiting Times

Please be aware that our current waiting times for many appointments exceed 20 weeks, and so we encourage you to keep any appointments that have been made for you. We currently have no walk-in services at any of our sites, so please do not attend without an appointment.

High Quality Services

The Audiology team have been awarded ‘Improving Quality in Physiological Services’ (IQIPS) accreditation, which is a programme managed by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)