"Paediatric Specialist Services around hearing loss"

Our son is hearing impaired and has other borderline impairments. His hearing levels have deteriorated significantly in the last 18 months. We were referred by our ENT to the specialist services at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane. This included pediatric, neurology and recently genetic services, seen over the last 15 months. The braid aim was to identify any cause or elements that could be acted upon to halt or slow the rate of loss.

After previously being underwhelmed with services that focussed on cause rather than management we were a little apprehensive about investing our time over again. On the whole, there have been some hits and misses in terms of care. The first thing worth noting is that appointments were generally on time - great for working parents! Initial interaction with pediatrics was great - thorough investigation of past history. Also, the Doctor called us a number of times to advise the results of certain tests, which was a pleasant surprise!

Other areas were more frustrating. When we go to such specialists we are expecting them to take leadership and guide us with their expertise. Many times we felt we were being asked to set the agenda for what treatment should be explored, or identify what 'conditions' are important or not.