Referred to GPSI in ENT, not consultant.
England based and wondering if this sounds usual.
2004- aged 14/15 - cholesteatoma, successful mastoidectomy, bone replacements, eardrum graft etc. hearing was restored as good as other ear.
12 years of follow-ups with ENT consultant. He was happy, said to request re-referral if any future concerns. I now live in a different part of the country.
Recently- Gradual hearing loss, noticeably worse past couple of months. No pain or discharge or obvious infection when GP looked in ear.
However, I only had signs of my first cholesteatoma once a lot of damage had already been done. So the lack of other signs doesn't completely reassure me.
Last week- saw GP, asked for ENT referral to check for recurrence. GP initially was going to refer to just audiology because I'd "had the cholesteatoma treated". Only after I reiterated my concern about recurrence she checked online and found it can reoccur.
Today - received an ENT appt for October. I've heard ENT is very busy so fair enough.
I'm nosy so I looked up the doctor and he's a GPSI (GP with special interest in ENT) rather than a hospital based ENT consultant.
Is this usual?
I'm a midwife and if a woman needs to see an obstetrician they're usually referred to see a consultant, who they'll see for the first appointment and then registrars in that consultant's clinic for follow-ups. I realise obstetrics is an acute service though so may be different.
Is ENT quite different to this?
Does this sound like a usual route?
I also have an audiology appointment next month.
Edit: typo