Refer a patient to the Audiological Medicine department

The criteria for accepting an APD referral into our service includes the following:

1. Minimum age at the time of referral should be no less than seven years.
2. Maximum age at the time of referral should not be older than 15-and-a-half years and 16 years at the time of the appointment (older patients should contact Professor Doris Bamiou at the University College London Hospital, Royal National ENT and Eastman, Dental Hospitals, fifth floor, 47 to 49 Huntley Street, London, WC1E 6DG).
3. The developmental, cognitive, speech and language ability of the child should be a minimum age of seven years.
4. There should be suspicion of APD by educational and healthcare professionals such as teachers, speech, and language therapists, educational or clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, ENT surgeons, paediatricians, audiologists or GP.
5. The child should have normal hearing thresholds in both ears with normal middle and inner ear functions – demonstrated by audiology assessment within three months of referral. Please note, if a hearing loss is diagnosed at the time of the appointment, we will be unable to complete a full APD assessment and you will be discharged and require a new referral. It is therefore strongly recommended to assess the hearing thresholds closer to the appointment date.
6. A speech and language therapy report must be provided, dated within the last two-years. If there is language, phonological, cognitive or other developmental problems, these must be assessed first and relevant reports must be attached to the referral as the above can adversely affect the outcome of the APD tests making interpretation difficult.
7. An educational psychologist report or an equivalent assessment such as a developmental review by a paediatrician must be provided, dated within the last two-years. It is a prerequisite for children referred to the APD clinic that these children have reached a developmental age, language abilities and maturity adequate to complete the complex audiological test battery.
8. If applicable, other supporting documents such as assessments for dyslexia, assessments from occupational therapy, paediatrician or relevant specialists, EHCP, and school reports.

Please note, if these are not provided the referral will be rejected.

Exclusions to the above, include:

1. Unable to complete the assessments requested as part of acceptance criteria, related to diagnosis of ADD or ADHD, autism, and cognitive delay.
2. Severe speech and language disorder affecting speech clarity.
3. The patient should not have any neurological conditions.

Who can refer?

GPs, Hospital or Community Consultants, Speech and language therapists, Educational Psychologists, Audiologists and Teacher of the Deaf. All referrals must have the supporting documentation detailed in acceptance criteria above.
It is the responsibility of the referrer to ensure that all the supporting documentation is attached. Failure to do so will result in the referral being rejected.
We reserve the right to accept or reject referrals based on the information provided by the referrer. If there are questions, please e-mail Audiology.info@gosh.nhs.uk

As a tertiary care hospital, all children who attend GOSH must be referred via local hospital consultants or consultant community paediatricians.

We accept tertiary referrals for children up to 16 years old regarding the following:

• Hearing loss
• Auditory processing disorders
• Bone anchored hearing aids
• Cochlear implants
• Aetiological investigations for hearing loss
• Balance difficulties

Please include the following information in the referral letter:

• Full patient details
• Relevant patient history
• Reason for referral – please indicate if you are requesting a specific test
• Known diagnoses/aetiologies
• Previous audiograms or auditory evoked potential (AEP) results over the last 2-3 years with tympanometry, acoustic reflexes and OAE results performed at the time of testing, if available
• Details of behavioural or AEP testing where results have not been obtained, including: type of test performed; reason why results were not obtained; date attempted
• Next planned follow up appointment at the local audiology service. Please indicate if the patient has been discharged from local audiology
• Details of any planned care that is relevant to audiological follow-up

Referrals should be made via email to gos-tr.avm@nhs.net or by post addressed to:

40-41 Queen Square
Sight and Sound Centre
Great Ormond Street Hospital
London
WC1N 3AJ

Please contact the audiology department directly:

By telephone: 020 7405 9200 ext 8315

Email: audiology.info@gosh.nhs.uk

• Dr Kaukab Rajput, Consultant Audiological Physician
• Dr Raouf Chorbachi, Consultant Audiological Physician
• Dr Sebastian Hendricks, Consultant Audiological Physician
• Dr Waheeda Pagarkar, Consultant AudioVestibular Physician

• Amjad Mahmood, Lead Audiologist
• Herra Bhutta, Deputy Lead Audiologist
• Nicola Guderley, Deputy Lead Audiologist
• Anita Wong, Deputy Lead Audiologist

Rayanne Litchmore
Assistant Service Manager
Contact telephone number: 020 7405 9200 ext 1419

Georgia Stores
PA to Dr Raouf Chorbachi and Dr Sebastian Hendricks
Contact telephone number: 020 7405 9200 ext 1320

Shazia Dowlatzai
PA to Dr Kaukab Rajput and Dr Waheeda Pagarkar
Contact telephone number: 020 7405 9200 ext 8430

Zaina Langley
PA to Audiologists
Contact telephone number: 020 7405 9200 ext 8315