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
• Sudden onset hearing loss in absence of clear aetiology and/or associated with vertigo and tinnitus
• Sudden onset debilitating constant vertigo where the patient is very imbalanced (vestibular neuritis/stroke)
• Sudden onset facial weakness
• Barotrauma with sudden onset vertigo
• Foreign body
• Complicated mastoiditis/cholesteatoma or sinusitis (periorbital cellulitis, frontal sinusitis with persistent frontal headache)
• Ear canal oedema/unable to clear discharge
• Trauma

Nose

• Acute bacterial rhinosinusitis – visual disturbance/signs, neurological signs/frontal swelling/severe unilateral or bilateral headache
• Acute nasal fracture with septal haematoma
• Severe or persistent epistaxis

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
• Uncomplicated / Chronic Symmetrical Hearing Loss in over 70 years old
• Mild Acute Rhinosinusitis
• Aesthetic Surgery – Cosmetic Rhinoplasty

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.

Specialists list

Clinic details

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