My wife needs her ears syringed, a simple enough job one would think. Just pop in to the practice nurse, 5 minutes job done. Not any more it has to be done "in the community". So telephone calls going through an overly complicated procedure, to be told you will hear within 5 working days. That was over a week ago, no further information. So today will be another telephone call tying up a NHS worker. What a waste of resources.

Round here it's not syringing any more. Syringing worked reasonably well and I've had in done in Switzerland and the US, too. A few years back round here they moved to an impulse type machine, but still done by a practice nurse. Now they seem to have decided it's a big deal, so, Doctor's appointment first so they can spend 30 secs verifying that you have indeed got earwax, then appt with a specialist who uses a vacuum cleaner to get it out of the ear(s). Daft, eh?

Is it any wonder the health service is in difficulties?

May 21, 2019 Last reply: 7 years ago 61 Replies

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Max Demian 7 years ago

I've just had my ears vacuumed by a proper doctor at a local hospital after softening the wax with ear drops.

I think that surgeries are just fed up with people asking for their ears to be routinely syringed when they don't really need it. And they don't get paid extra as they just get a capitation fee and they're private businesses.

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Steve Walker 7 years ago

GP surgeries do seem to be dropping many services that they previously carried out. To be fair they are taking on some other services, but I do wonder if they should be dropping so many.

SteveW

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