Daughters Glue Ear Issues, anyone else had issues.

[Deleted User]

My daughter has just turned 3 years old and for about the last 20 months we have been going back and forth to the NHS for checkups and test on her glue ear. We first noticed it when she got an ear infection and its gone on from there. The last time I went with her to see the specialist she had tests and the specialist confirmed again the glue ear was still there. As she was less than 3 years old they were against grommets and said they would bring her back in June this year for more tests.

We heard nothing from them so chased them and we were told we were lost in the system? Anyway she has just had another appointment with the specialist who confirmed she still has glue ear and said she wants her to come back in 3 months time for another check up! Then if she needs grommets it will be another 2-3 months waiting. To say we are not happy is an understatement.

Anyway I have checked around and I have found that the private cost for this operation is around 2000 UK pounds and if required could be done start to finish in 3-4 weeks. We want to go down that route which means getting a referral from the GP and then going to see a specialist. The specialist is on the list of consultants at the clinic we would prefer to use. If we went down this route how likely would she or one of her colleagues just delay us again? Myself and my wife do not think she has done anything for us apart from keep delaying and delaying what we think our daughter needs. We both feel we have wasted all the time going back and forth while our daughter suffers.

Would you just go the private route if you could?

Armorica

It is common to wait at least some months to see if the infections will clear up. Kids just grow out of it. If you were lost in the system, then the new doctor may be doing the 'see if it goes away' approach from scratch.

The issue may be the general anaethestic - which is a risk - rather than the grommets. You should ask if there is any policy regarding age?

Sometimes adenoids or tonsils are taken out at the same time too - which is a bigger operation.

Grommets are particularly useful where hearing is being affected hence speech. If her hearing is generally ok, and the ear infections not too frequent, I'd probably wait it out. There is also a risk that she'd need a second or third set of grommets later on.

[I had grommets at 7, which was far too late; getting them done before school would make more sense]

[Deleted User]

Its the same specialist who saw my daughter yesterday as too 9 months ago.
It has affected her speech a bit and we don't want any more delays to be honest, we just want what's best and the feeling from the NHS is they just keep fobbing us off.

FBaby

The answer is that it depends. When my husband needed an operation on his shoulder, he went private and I was surprised that even privately, he still had to go through the stage of trying injections before being eligible for the actual operation, even though he had gone through it before with his other shoulder and the injections had clearly been pointless. What I am not totally sure is whether this was a clinical decision, ie. recommendations all surgeons have to follow, or whether it was a requirement from the private insurance (or both).

The reason why the NHS is 'fobbing' you off is being evidence shows that in most cases, glue ears do resolve on their own at that age. My son had a lot of problems with it, in and out of outpatient appointments, his speech was also delayed, but it got better once he started school and at 11 now, he is absolutely fine and had no problems as a result.

However it is your choice to go private, so ask your GP if he knows if your child will be able to get surgery immediately in referred privately, or whether there will still be a phase of waiting too. I believe that she will be able to get it right away, but we are not entitled to give medical advice on the forum, so don't take my word for it and ask your GP.