West Kent children's hearing service

Children Hearing Services
On this page you will find information about the hearing services we offer; how we provide them, what is involved for the patient and how you can access these services.

About our services
We offer a comprehensive service for the audiological assessment and habilitation of children from birth to 16 years of age. We have soundproof rooms with visual reinforcement audiometry setup, a state of the art hearing aid evaluation and programming equipments and a dedicated multidisciplinary paediatric team. The purpose built paediatric audiology department is located in Sevenoaks hospital and various other sites.

We recognise that children with hearing requirements need special attention to make sure they have the correct hearing care to develop normally, both in speech and language and in their general development. Our team of experts is dedicated to making your child feel comfortable and keeping you informed throughout.

The Children’s Hearing services are a major referral centre for all children with different hearing requirements. We provide services that are designed to screen, assess, diagnose and manage hearing loss in children, keeping with current professional practice by highly qualified paediatric trained staff. Our aim is making the most of every child’s hearing by identifying impairment as early as possible, so that appropriate treatment and management is given without delay to reduce disability and prevent handicap.

Download a referral form|.

Clinic Locations

We cover all the children with GP’s in West Kent, Medway and Swale. We have our clinics at the following sites:

Sevenoaks Hospital
Hospital Road,
Sevenoaks,
Kent TN13 3PG

Gravesham Community Hospital
Gravesend & North Kent Hospital
Bath Street
Gravesend,
Kent DA11 0DG

Hawkhurst Cottage Hospital
High Street,
Cranbrook,
Kent TN18 4PU

Darent Valley Hospital,
Darenth Wood Road,
Dartford,
Kent DA2 8DA

Sittingbourne Memorial Hospital,
Bell Road,
Sittingbourne,
Kent ME10 4DT

Screening

In Kent all children have their hearing screened:

as a newborn baby (if born after August 2008) as part of the Newborn Hearing Screening programme and
As a child entering school at approximately 5 years old as part of the School Health programme.

Our trained professional staff use a range of methods for screening including technical tests.

Assessment and Diagnosis

Children will have a diagnostic assessment by a highly trained paediatric audiologist if:

there is a concern about a child’s hearing following the screening at any of the above
because of the risk factors of developing a hearing loss
parental concern
if a professional has a concern about a child’s hearing

The professional can be a GP, Speech Therapist, Paediatrician, ENT Consultant, Health Visitor, and School Nurse. Any of these people can be contacted by the parent to get the referral to us.

In addition, we test the hearing of children in a consultant led outpatient clinic. Children who need a medical attention are seen by our consultant audiovestibular medicine specialist Dr Raj Nandi. Dr Nandi manages the medical side of the hearing loss and can refer children for further medical investigations including genetic testing, blood investigations and imaging (MRI or CT etc. We closely work with the team of London’s top bone anchored hearing aids (BAHA) and cochlear implants centre.

For children with additional needs who are not able to complete routine Audiometry, we can perform an objective assessment of hearing under natural sleep in the department, or we can organise to “tag on” to a planned theatre session and perform the test under a GA.

Support

Children with confirmed hearing loss will receive a package of care which is tailored to their specific needs. This will be carried out by a multi-agency team in partnership with the children and their parents and will include regular reviews. A typical package could include:

Prescription of digital hearing aids using the most updated paediatric prescriptive procedures for the development of speech and language and thereby preventing handicap.
Involvement of the Specialist Advisory Service in Children, Schools and Families
Provision of a Parent Information Folder by the Education which includes information about hearing loss, and national and local services (such as the National Deaf Children’s Society) and contact numbers for advice and support
Referral to an Ear Nose & Throat specialist
Referral to Speech and Language Therapy
Referral to a Children’s Doctor

Hearing Aids

For children requiring a hearing aid we can offer the latest digital technology in a choice of colours and even add their favourite character or football team to the ear mould!

Key Contacts

Service manager:
Audiology Manager and Hearing Screening Co-ordinator
Jane O’Rourke

Consultant in Audiovestibular Medicine
Dr. Raj Nandi, FRCS, MSc

Lead audiologist
Rebecca Boulton

Email: wk-pct.childrenshearingservice@nhs.net|

West Kent Children Hearing Services

Contact Information:
West Kent Children Hearing Services
2nd Floor, Admin Suite
Sevenoaks Hospital
Sevenoaks
TN13 3PG

Telephone:
01732 471300

Fax:
01732471328

Opening hours for appointment booking:
9am - 12.30pm, 2pm - 4pm
Monday - Thursday

9am -1pm
Friday

Clinic opening hours:
8am to 5.30pm
Monday-Friday

Out-of-hours:
For urgent advice contact NHS Direct on 0845 46 47.

Feedback/Complaints:
wk-pct.childrenshearingservice
@nhs.net|