How to get an appointment
Once your referral has been accepted, we'll call you to arrange a convenient time for your child's appointment. If you miss a call from our service, please call the appointments line on 020 3049 8592.
When we have made you an appointment we'll send you a letter with an appointment date and information about where to go when you arrive. We send this as a digital letter that you can open from a text or email. If you do not or cannot open it, we'll post it to you instead.
We'll also send you a text message reminder before your appointment. Please let us know if your phone number changes.
Please check the clinic location on your appointment letter and text carefully. You can also find information about where to find our clinics on the community services page.
Changing or cancelling your appointment
If you cannot make your child's appointment, please contact us as soon as possible to cancel or change the appointment.
Please keep appointment times whenever possible, as the rescheduled date can be up to 6 weeks later.
If you need to cancel we'll arrange another appointment time for your child as soon as possible.
By phone
Please call us on 020 3049 8592.
By email
Please email gst-tr.CYPACEnquiries@nhs.net.
Please include full details of the appointment date and time and your child's:
- name
- hospital number (if you know it)
- date of birth
When we receive your email, we'll cancel the existing appointment on the hospital’s booking system. Please tell us if you’d prefer to be contacted by phone or email and we'll get back to you to agree a new date and time.
Using the MyChart app
If you have proxy access for your child's MyChart account, you can cancel and manage some appointments using the app or website.
Our MyChart patient app page has information about requesting proxy access.
By text
The text message reminders we send you will include an option to request that the appointment is cancelled or rebooked. If you choose either of these responses, our appointments team will contact you to discuss and rebook.
Before your appointment
It may be helpful to watch our videos about what you and your child can expect in your audiology appointment. You can watch a video about your baby's hearing test if you're bringing your newborn. Hospital visits can be difficult for some children, you can watch our video about your your visit to children's audiology with your child to help prepare them for their appointment.
If your child is attending our Hummingbird clinic, we'll ask you some questions over the phone when we book your appointment to help prepare the room for your child's appointment. If you as the parent or legal guardian cannot bring your child to an appointment, please give the family member or carer who is bringing them a letter with your written consent.
Young adults over the age of 16 can attend their appointment alone.
During your appointment
What happens during your appointment may vary on your child's age and the type of appointment you're attending.
Most preschool aged children are seen by 2 audiologists. We'll play some games with your child in order to test their hearing. We may also use some automatic tests.
Some children have their hearing tested using listening games, this is called play audiometry. For information about how to prepare your child for this type of test, please watch our video about practicing for a hearing test on YouTube.
We often use headphones to find out more about your child's ears so it is helpful for you to practice using headphones with your child at home before your appointment with us.
If your child has any favourite toys, games or television shows, please let us know as we may be able to use these during the appointment.
If your child has hearing aids, please bring them to every appointment.
Most school aged children will be seen by 1 audiologist. Usually we'll ask your child to wear headphones and press a button when they hear a sound.
You may find it useful to talk with your child about their hearing before the appointment to help them think of anything they may want to tell us, or any questions they may want to ask.
If your child has hearing aids, please bring them to every appointment.
We offer specialist individualised hearing assessments to children with social communication disorders, including autistic spectrum disorder or other complex needs.
Our innovative hearing service includes:
- a child-friendly waiting room and specialised children's audiological booth
- modified hearing assessments which may include familiar music or other sounds and familiar visual rewards
- the use of iPads or tablets for our hearing assessments
We'll ask you to complete questionnaires before the appointment to make sure we can design the appointment to suit the needs of your child.
Please also watch our video about your visit to children’s audiology on YouTube with your child prepare for their appointment.
We may use other visual support materials, such as Now and Next cards and a visual timetable to increase understanding and decrease anxiety. These materials allow your child to understand what will be happening to them at their clinic visit.
The Hummingbird clinic is the only service of its kind in London and was made possible by a £200,000 grant from Guy's & St Thomas' Charity
If we have been unable to assess your child's hearing through our behavioural assessment, we may refer them for auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing under sedation.
If your child is booked for this appointment, please make sure your child follows the fasting guidelines:
- no food 6 hours before the sedation
- no breast milk 4 hours before the sedation
- no water 2 hours before the sedation.
Please download the auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing with sedation leaflet (359KB) for more information.
'Transition' is how we describe the gradual process of transferring you from our audiology service at Evelina London to adult services, if you wear hearing aids. We'll start discussing and preparing you for a transition to adult audiology when you're 14 years old. Your transition will usually happen when you're 18 years old, or when you leave school. If you do not wear hearing aids your care will be transferred back to your GP or you may be referred to another specialist service if your need some support when doing your hearing test.
Throughout transition we'll discuss your understanding of your hearing loss and hearing aids and make sure that you're confident managing your hearing aids independently.
We'll discuss your plans for education or work and provide information including suggesting organisations that help with assistive technology, social support, benefits and more.
We'll discuss which adult audiology department you would like to be referred to. It's important to think about where you will be living, working or studying over the next few years so that we can refer you to the right service. If you're staying close to where you currently live, depending on where that is, we'll probably refer you to Guy's Hospital, Lewisham Hospital or St George's Hospital.
At your final appointment with us, you'll have a hearing assessment and your hearing aids and hearing aid settings will be checked. We'll also take impressions for new earmoulds and we can give you any hearing aid supplies that you may need. Once you have had your final appointment with us, you will need to contact adult audiology if there are any concerns with your hearing, hearing aids or to request supplies.
We'll send a report to your new department explaining your hearing loss, hearing aid settings and any other information such as whether you need an interpreter.
Contact us
Guy's audiology
Phone: 020 7188 2211
Text: 07734 980 844
Email: AudiologyAppointments@gstt.nhs.uk
Lewisham audiology
Phone: 020 8333 3000 extension 8132
St George's audiology
Phone: 020 8266 6363
Phone: 020 8725 1122
Email: Audiologist.Appointments@stgeorges.nhs.uk