By Donal Collins – WaxTract Group Clinical Director

On the BBC website yesterday; a story that has been clear to me and many patients for many years.

In my NHS career, I was a GP specialist in ENT and ran an ENT in Primary care serving a population of 200,000 people. We got waiting lists down to 2 weeks, and because I was known in the area if a fellow GP was worried about their patients, they would ring me and I would get them into the next clinic.

When the service ended- CCG was in financial deficit, as no one can say this out loud the reason given was we had widened inequalities as the neighbouring town had a waiting list of around 9 months. Hence we by improving the waiting list were causing harm to the population as a whole. You really can’t make it up!

Over the years the rising demand for earwax removal became clear. We trained a nurse practitioner to do this, so the surgeons and Drs could see more complex.

In general, it was not just a little bit of wax, but concretions occluding the canal that often would take over 30 minutes to clear using operating microscopes, suction, tiny hooks, and crocodile forceps to break this down while not harming the patient.

It was one of those minor miracle moments when “the deaf can hear again”, wonderful for the patient, and really satisfying for the clinician doing the procedure.

Shortly after we lost our contract the CCG stopped funding earwax removal as it was not a “medical problem”. Clearly, none of the commissioners had this problem! However, we are where we are. The financial stress commissioners still are trying to fund treatments for acute services and many preventable long-term conditions mean it is off the funding menu, never to return.

I retired at this time from NHS practice and set up a private service with one of our values been we would never turn away someone who needed the procedure and could not afford it.

This I am proud to say we have stood by.

Over the last 3.5 years, many others have opened around us, with headsets and handheld devices claiming these are microscopes. They actually are magnifying devices and not microscopes. This is the “micro” in microsuction. One of my pet subjects- is being transparent about the language you use to describe your business.

We focus on quality. We only have 5-star ratings, our competitors are sending their difficult cases to us. We are now receiving referrals from GP practices and urgent treatment centres. As they know the problem will be dealt with and not bounce around the system like a hot potato.

We looking for like-minded partners to set up around the UK under a brand that is a GP specialist-led service, we will train you to use equipment properly and safely and provide ongoing governance and support going forward.