EAR, NOSE & THROAT (ENT)

The Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) team works across Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, providing a shared service for a population of over 800,000 patients. The hospitals operate a ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ week system where each hospital takes it in turns to be on-call.

Ipswich

The ENT team at Ipswich Hospital comprises of 5 consultants, 3 higher specialty trainees, 2 SAS doctors, 2 GP trainees and 1 FY2 doctor. In addition, there are 5 advanced nurse practitioners who work closely with the junior doctors. The team works alongside allied health professionals such as the speech and language therapist and dieticians.

Junior doctors will receive an induction course at the start of their rotation. This introduces them to the day-to-day cases they would encounter and the minor procedures they would be expected to carry out during the rotation.

The department sees a wide variety of patients with varied pathology from pediatrics to adults. In particular, the department has a specialist interest in head and neck surgery. Trainees will see many patients with head and neck cancer who have had major surgery such as laryngectomy.

Colchester

The ENT team at Colchester hospital is made up of 5 consultants, 5 SAS doctors, 2 higher specialty trainees with training numbers, 2 core surgical trainees and 6 foundation doctors and GP trainees.

Foundation doctors and core trainees at Colchester hospital benefit from participating in general surgery oncalls which allows for experience in a wide-range of surgical pathologies.

The ENT departments at Ipswich and Colchester are predominantly outpatient based. However, there is capacity for ENT patients on the surgical wards. There is a high volume of patients that attend for day cases. At Ipswich hospital, day cases are performed at the Rushmere Day Unit. At Colchester hospital, these are performed at the Elmstead Day Unit.