Evaluation of health service outcomes for an audiology first point of contact retrocochlear clinic: a 6-year retrospective cohort study

Although existing studies of audiology first point of contact clinics which screen for retrocochlear pathology have demonstrated positive clinical outcomes, they have provided limited information regarding service impacts. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate both the clinical and health service outcomes of an audiology first point of contact (FPOC) clinic for adults referred to ENT services with suspected retrocochlear pathology. Retrospective cohort study. All 1123 patients referred to the clinic over a 6-year period (2013–2019). Most (73.7%) of the 1123 patients referred to the Retrocochlear Clinic were managed and discharged by the audiologist and did not require ENT appointment. Almost half (43.1%) were directly referred for MRI imaging, of which 4 (1.1%) were diagnosed with Vestibular Schwannoma. Waiting times for first appointments significantly (p p This audiology FPOC Retrocochlear Clinic was shown to be a safe and effective alternative service model.