Miss Eleanor Sproson is a Consultant Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgeon with over 20 years of experience in general and emergency ENT. She specialises in Children’s ENT and voice disorders affecting both adults and children (laryngology). She is the Lead Paediatric ENT Consultant at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and sees private patients in the Harbour Suite at Queen Alexandra Hospital and Medicana Hospital, Winchester.

Training

She trained in the Wessex region (Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset) and completed an advanced fellowship in Paediatric (Children’s) ENT surgery at The Evelina London Children’s Hospital, where she gained extensive experience managing complex airway and paediatric ENT conditions. During her training she also developed advanced skills in laryngology, learning cutting-edge voice surgery techniques, including laryngeal reinnervation.

Alongside her surgical training, Miss Sproson completed an MSc in Allergy, which enables her to take a broader view of ENT conditions such as airway inflammation, chronic nasal symptoms, and allergy-related disease.

Research and Quality Improvement in Healthcare

In 2013, Miss Sproson was awarded the Health Education Wessex, Francis Simulation Fellowship which focused on quality improvement techniques within healthcare and founded the Make the Airway Safe Team (MAST) Initiative. This uses in situ team simulation training and quality improvement of emergency treatment pathways to ensure that children presenting with airway problems receive consistent, high-quality care regardless of which hospital they attend. This program was nominated in 2014 for the ‘Wonderful Workforce Solution of the Year’, in the Shine Awards (for excellence in education and training for the NHS) and was a highly commended finalist for ‘High Performing Education and Training Team’ of the Year in 2015. This Initiative was so successful in improving outcomes in the Wessex region that it has spread nationally through Miss Sproson’s work in the Paediatric Operational Delivery Network.

Miss Sproson was part of the team that published the initial 2017 paper recommending Coblation Intracapsular Tonsillectomy as a safer way of treating children with tonsil related breathing problems1 and was part of the panel that published the 2024 Day Case Paediatric Adenotonsillectomy Consensus Guideline from the British Association for Paediatric Otorhinolaryngology (1).

Clinical Expertise in Children’s ENT

Miss Sproson (also known as Mrs Disney!) is a mother of two and takes a family centred approach so parents leave consultations feeling informed, supported and empowered to make decisions about medical or surgical treatment. She regularly treats:

· Glue ear and other childhood causes of hearing loss

· Ear wax issues

· Nasal allergy (allergic rhinitis)

· Obstructive sleep apnoea (pauses in breathing during sleep)

· Recurrent tonsillitis

· Tongue tie in babies and older children

· Noisy breathing in children including laryngomalacia (floppy voice box), subglottic stenosis or cysts (scarring or cysts in the windpipe) and tracheomalacia (floppy windpipe)

· Birth related malformations such as pre-auricular sinuses, branchial clefts and thyroglossal duct cysts.

· Voice issues including vocal cord weakness, vocal cord nodules and papillomas.

Clinical Expertise in Voice, Breathing and Swallow Disorders

Miss Sproson treats voice issues holistically recognising they are often multifactorial and require a carefully crafted person centred solution that may combine medical, surgical and therapeutic strategies to achieve the best possible outcomes. She regularly treats:

· Muscle tension dysphonia (muscle imbalance in the voice box)

· Laryngopharyngeal reflux (also known as silent reflux)

· Vocal cord nodules, polyps or papillomas

· Vocal cord palsy (weakness or complete paralysis)

· Spasmodic dysphonia

· Intermittent laryngeal obstruction (noisy breathing issues)

· Chronic cough and laryngeal hypersensitivity

She regularly performs a wide range of procedures, including:

· Microsuction ear wax removal

· Insertion of grommets

· Coblation intracapsular tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy

· Tongue tie division

· Laryngotracheobronchoscopy (surgery on the voice box, windpipe and branches into the lungs)

· Removal of birth related defects (pre-auricular sinuses, branchial clefts abnormalities, thyroglossal duct cysts).

· Dilation of birth related nose issues (choanal atresia and piriform aperture stenosis)

· Myringoplasty (ear drum repair)

· Phonosurgery (surgery on the voice box to improve voice)

· Vocal cord weakness procedures such as injection laryngoplasty (filler injections into the vocal cord), thyroplasty (plastic block in voice box) and laryngeal reinnervation (stitching a non-functioning vocal cord nerve to a functioning one to restore function)

· Botox injections to the voice box

1. Hoey AW, Hadjisymeou S, Chowdhury AK, Greig S, Sproson EL, Allin D, Wouters K, Jonas NE, Tweedie DJ. Coblation® intracapsular tonsillectomy (tonsillotomy) in children: A prospective study of 500 consecutive cases with long term follow up. Clinical Otolaryngology. 2017 Article DOI: 10.1111/coa.12849. 2. https://www.bapo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Daycase-Final.pdfDaycase-Final.pdf

For appointments please contact info@ent-surgeons.uk or phone 02078 705910