Just weeks after their first successful high volume TonKIDZ week in July, where 10 times the usual number of children had their tonsils removed than an average week, our ENT team (Ear, Nose and Throat) has held another, completing even more tonsillectomies than before.

From Monday 11 to Sunday 17 September, 111 children who had faced longer waits due to backlogs from the pandemic, had their tonsils removed. The team also managed to complete sleep studies on a further 10 children, getting even more kids the care they need while further reducing our waiting lists.

Gaurav Kumar, ENT Clinical Lead (pictured above, bottom left), said: “I am so proud of everyone for the brilliant show of teamwork during TonKIDZ 2. This shows just what we can achieve by working together.

“Special thanks to Kalyani Gorrela, Clinical Lead for Anaesthetics, and her team, who made sure all the kids had smooth and safe anaesthetic. This was a much bigger ask with many more procedures taking place that week than usual.”

Kerry Chapman, ENT speciality manager (pictured above, bottom right), added: “Working closely with our Admissions team and paediatric nurses made it possible to get the maximum number of children in for their procedures.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without all the teams working together.”

Throughout our two TonKIDZ weeks, we've reduced our ENT waiting list from more than 400 children to around 250. ENT surgery, particularly tonsillectomies, makes up the bulk of our paediatric waiting list, so continuing to reduce the number of children waiting to have their tonsils out by such huge numbers is making a big difference.

We first started holding high volume or ‘super weeks’ during the pandemic, to reduce the backlog which built up while we dealt with Covid-19. Read more about our work to reduce our waiting lists.

Running high volume weeks like this takes a number of teams working closely together to achieve. Our ENT team was supported by a number of colleagues including the team on Tropical Bay children’s ward, theatres staff, colleagues in admissions who contact patients, our porters and anaesthetics to name a few.