Private ENT in Cardiff: sinus, ear, throat and hearing services

Nuffield Health's ENT clinic page says it provides ear, nose and throat care for adults and for children from three years old. Consultations take place at The Vale Hospital or Cardiff Bay Hospital, and every operation is done at The Vale. That split matters for planning: a first appointment in the Bay and surgery near Hensol Castle Park involve different journeys, and the pages say both sites have plenty of free parking.

Spire Cardiff Hospital lists ear, nose and throat treatments, and its A-Z gives the specifics: septoplasty, functional endoscopic sinus surgery, balloon sinuplasty for chronic sinusitis, tonsillectomy for adults, earwax removal, hearing loss, tinnitus, laryngoscopy, swallowing difficulties and sleep apnoea. Rhinoplasty is listed too. It is a clear list of adult-focused services, and its tonsil entry is for adults only.

In short, families with children aged three and over will find a paediatric offer at Nuffield, while adults have two options with overlapping scope.

Spire Cardiff's page on functional endoscopic sinus surgery describes passing a thin telescope through the nostril to clear blocked sinuses, removing inflamed tissue, polyps or blockages to improve drainage. It is typically performed under general anaesthetic as a day case, followed by roughly a week of taking things easy, avoiding heavy lifting, arranging a lift home and a follow-up appointment with the consultant.

Nuffield's adult ENT services include sinus surgery (endoscopic and FESS), septoplasty and rhinoplasty, plus management of sinusitis, nasal polyps and snoring or sleep-related breathing problems. Both hospitals therefore cover the usual operations for chronic sinus problems and a deviated septum.

Before surgery, a consultant normally expects medical treatment to have been tried and may arrange a CT scan of the sinuses. Spire Cardiff lists CT on site and Nuffield Cardiff Bay lists CT as well, so ask where yours would be done and how soon the report reaches the surgeon.

Nuffield's adult ENT page names ear drum perforation, hearing loss, middle ear infections and balance disorders such as vertigo, and lists grommet insertion and ear drum repair among the procedures. For children it names glue ear and hearing problems and grommet insertion.

Spire Cardiff's A-Z includes hearing loss, earwax removal and dizziness. Its dizziness page notes that dizziness may stem from the ear but also from the heart, joints, vision, brain, nervous system or blood, and that a consultation may lead to scans or blood tests. On tinnitus, Spire says about seven million people in the UK are affected and names acoustic neuromodulation, environmental sound enrichment, desensitisation therapy and relaxation and sleep counselling as approaches.

Ask what a hearing assessment includes and whether hearing aid fitting is part of the service. Sudden hearing loss in one ear is a same-day matter for NHS urgent care, not a routine outpatient referral.

Nuffield lists tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy for adults and children, recurrent tonsillitis and sleep apnoea in children, airway endoscopy and the removal of neck lumps such as thyroglossal and branchial cysts. Spire Cardiff lists tonsillectomy for adults, laryngoscopy and swallowing difficulties, and sleep apnoea.

For adults considering tonsil surgery, ask how many sore throat episodes your consultant would expect before operating and how long recovery takes; for snoring or sleep apnoea, ask what sleep testing is available and whether the pathway includes a sleep clinic. Any child's airway symptoms deserve a conversation with the GP first.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board lists ENT among its specialties. The usual route is a GP referral, as Wales has no right to choose and no e-Referral Service of the English kind. Welsh targets, per Senedd Research in its December 2024 update, are 95 percent of patients under 26 weeks from referral and everyone within 36 weeks, and the article says neither had been met for years.

Concerned about a child or adult out of hours? NHS 111 Wales provides advice, and 999 remains the emergency number.

Ask which site the consultation and the operation will take place at, given the Nuffield split, and whether a pre-operative assessment is done at Cardiff Bay. Ask about expected time off work or school, and what pain relief and dressings are included. If you have insurance, check that your policy covers sinus surgery, which some insurers treat as discretionary.

Seek urgent help for bleeding after tonsil surgery, a nosebleed lasting more than twenty minutes with pressure, new facial swelling, a stiff neck with fever, or any difficulty breathing or swallowing.