Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgery in Stirling

Disorders affecting the ear, nose and throat (ENT) are often extremely painful so you want to be seen by a medical specialist as fast as possible.

At The Kings Park Hospital in Stirling, you’ll gain immediate access to a skilled and experienced Consultant ENT Surgeon. They’ll see you straightaway, create a plan to manage your problem and either treat you there and then or arrange for treatment at a later date.

ENT is a varied medical field. Our consultants see patients with all kinds of disorders of the ear, nose and throat, from hearing loss and sinusitis to lumps in the throat.

The hospital is easily accessible from the M9 or the A91, and free parking is always available.

Ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery is a medicine branch that deals with a wide and varied range of disorders relating to the head and neck. A Consultant ENT Surgeon is known as an Otolaryngologist or Otorhinolaryngologist.

Here are some of the most common complaints treated by our ENT surgeons, divided into each of the three ENT categories:

• Ear disorders – hearing loss, tinnitus, ear wax, ear infections, prominent ear, vertigo, and discharge in the ear.
• Nasal problems – snoring, nasal polyps, blocked nose, allergic rhinitis, nose reshaping (rhinoplasty), facial pain, loss of smell (anosmia), tinnitus (ringing in the ears), sinusitis (sinus infection) and allergies.
• Throat issues – lumps in the throat and neck, throat cancer, tonsillitis (removal of the tonsils), swallowing difficulties, sleep apnoea (breathing stops while sleeping) and mouth ulcers.

Many conditions do not require surgery and can be treated medically.

Our ear, nose and throat surgeons accept self-referring patients. It means you can book an appointment without going through your GP, although we also accept GP referrals.

When you arrive at our friendly hospital, your Consultant ENT Surgeon will come and greet you and show you into a private consulting room.

They’ll introduce themselves and make you feel relaxed before asking you for a detailed medical history, including your complaint and previous surgeries, as well as any medications you’re on. They may also ask you about your life’s social aspects, such as your occupation, as these may have a bearing on the condition.

You’ll have an examination on the same day. Depending on the issue, it may include hearing tests, use of a painless fibre-optic scope to look closely at your throat and nose, and possibly blood tests for allergies and inflammatory disorders.

The Kings Park Hospital’s specialist audiology services have access to a soundproof booth to assess hearing. They can also use a microscope and suction device – a safer way than syringing when de-waxing ears. We also have an x-ray department. With an x-ray, a consultant can check whether a sinus infection has spread, for example. Our audiologists can also dispense state-of-the-art hearing aids.

If further investigation or treatment is needed, your consultant will book you into the ENT clinic within the next two or three weeks. For frequent sinusitis, nasal obstructions, or polyps, you might be sent to our sister hospital, The Ross Hall Hospital in Glasgow, for a computerised tomography (CT) scan. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may also be required for one-sided hearing loss, one-sided tinnitus, or vertigo.

Treatments, such as nasal sprays and creams, ear drops and antibiotics, can often be used to treat the problem with the minimum amount of trauma, so you can get back to your everyday life without taking much time off.

If you require diagnostic tests that can’t be done that day, your consultant will book you in for a follow-up consultation to go over the results at a later date. Once you’re clear about your options, you’ll have time to think about how you would like to proceed. If you choose to have an operation, the booking team will get in touch and book a date for you to come in for surgery at The Kings Park Hospital.

We maximise medical treatment and avoid surgery if we can. However, our highly skilled and experienced ENT surgeons have excellent facilities and equipment to perform operations if needed.

Operations that can be carried out include:

• Grommet insertions to assist hearing
• Correction of prominent ears (otoplasty)
• Nose reshaping (rhinoplasty)
• Removing polyps (nasal polypectomy)
• Endoscopic sinus surgery for blocked, inflamed, or infected sinuses
• Correction of nasal septum – the bendy part of the nose (septoplasty)
• Surgery to reduce enlarged turbinates (bony outgrowths inside the nose)
• Repairing holes in the eardrum (perforated eardrum)
• Removing tonsils (tonsillectomy)
• Removing earwax

You’ll recover from surgery in our dedicated recovery area and then a comfortable private room. Every professional you see throughout your journey in our hospital will be kind, caring and friendly, from our welcoming reception team to our ENT surgeons and related specialists.

If required, our Consultant ENT Surgeons can refer you to linked specialists, such as hearing test technicians (audiologists), speech therapists, tinnitus audiology services, respiratory consultants, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons.

Accessing fast treatment for ear, nose, or throat complaints from one hub is a significant advantage. Our aim is for you to be relived of any worries you have and get back to your everyday life as soon as possible.

Most patients presenting at The Kings Park Hospital with ENT disorders can be treated medically and if surgery is required most procedures are day cases so you don’t need an overnight stay.