What Makes Us Premium?

This Clinic was established by 4 NHS Consultant ENT surgeons in 2013.

We are very aware of the misery caused by having blocked ears. We recognised the long delays in the NHS and that many GPs were withdrawing ear syringing.  We wanted to make sure that self-funding patients could have access to affordable, high quality, fast and effective microsuction services.

We are also acutely aware of how delicate your ears are and how vital your hearing is to you and how easily they can be damaged by poorly trained practitioners. We invest a lot of time and effort into being absolutely sure that our Practitioners are very well trained. If ever there is a problem, we are available to support them.

If you ever have a problem please tell us. We want to know about it so we can try and solve it for you and avoid it happening in the future.

The SAFETY of your ears is paramount to us. Your ears are extremely precious.

The ear canal is a narrow tube curved in 2 directions with a membrane, called the eardrum, at one end. The skin lining the canal is very sensitive and can become infected if scratched.

We know from years of experience that the SAFEST way to clean an ear is under direct vision using a microscope and a tiny vacuum cleaner, a procedure known as Microsuction.

We believe that the ‘Micro’ part of ‘Micro-suction’ refers to a microscope, not a micro(tiny) sucker.

The MICROSCOPE is essential because the configuration of the lenses allows us to see down the ear canal with both eyes giving depth perception and so reducing the risk of damage.

The microscope also allows a large amount of magnification meaning that the ear canal skin and eardrum can be identified early before they might be damaged.

Microsuction allows CAREFUL, SAFE and EFFECTIVE cleaning of wax all the way down to the eardrum.

Some clinics will offer ‘microsuction’ and they will use suction but with a headlight instead of a microscope. This means looking down the ear canal with predominantly one eye and no magnification. Or they will use magnifying glasses (loupes) with limited magnification but still no depth perception because again they will be seeing with predominantly one eye. It is very difficult to clean the deep ear canal effectively and painlessly with these methods​

Microsuction is not easy. It takes time and practice to learn this SKILL.

We take training very seriously. All our new practitioners are taught all about ear anatomy and physiology and about the different diseases that can affect the ear. They are taught to identify the different problems that can be seen in the ear canal. They are tested with an exam.

They undertake at least 100 supervised ear microsuctions with the trainer watching down a sidearm and helping where necessary.

 We think this is the most comprehensive training for this particular skill anywhere in the UK.

There is no official Government checking, regulation or qualification for microsuction practitioners. Anyone can start providing ear microsuction even after only a single day’s course.

Many of the practitioners we hire are already trained and experienced Microsuction Practitioners having performed microsuction for many years. They will still undergo a period of assessment by our team.

We continually strive for excellence. In order to achieve this, we ask every patient after every microsuction to give feedback on their experience. This data is anonymised and analysed at our regular Directors meetings and fed back to the microsuction practitioners.

We use an independent company (Working Feedback) to collect the feedback and we achieve over 97% Good and Excellent feedback overall.

 We expect this level of feedback for each of our practitioners.

We take all complaints or complications very seriously. The few we have are presented at our regular Directors meetings where they are analysed, and any learning points highlighted and disseminated to the team and the required actions implemented.

Our clinics have microsuctioned over 60,000 ears with an extremely low complication rate of less than 1 in 1000 patients.

We maintain very high satisfaction rates of over 97% good or excellent.

We have invested heavily in IT to create an online booking and payment system so an appointment can be made very quickly.

We also have a paperless records system so you can be seen in any of our 16 clinics and your history and record of previous visits will be available.​

The Care Quality Commission (CQC):

  ‘… monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety….’ 

The CQC is extremely thorough. They inspect Clinics, paperwork, processes and protocols. Becoming and staying registered is an expensive and onerous task involving a huge amount of time and effort.

 We feel that CQC Registration is worth that time and effort.

 We are only one of 2 Ear Microsuction providers in the UK to have CQC registration.

 This is our quality commitment to you.

All of us often take our ears and hearing for granted. Having a blocked ear reminds us how incredibly precious our ears and hearing is to us.

As ENT surgeons with many years’ experience between us, we are very aware how delicate your ears are and how much care needs to be taken when doing a thorough job to clean all the wax from your ear canals and allow sound to access your eardrums unimpeded.

 At Just Ears, we never forget this.​