Following last month’s article, John Beadle, a member of a patients’ forum from Kent, has contacted me about the time it takes to get an NHS hearing aid fitted in hospital – something which certainly disadvantages older people.

John points out that the NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence)  guideline which came out in 2000 is not being followed everywhere. This, he says, is leading to a patchy service.  Nor are the standards of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf or the Department of Health which say that people should wait no longer than 12 weeks from a GP referral to having a hearing aid fitted.

The NHS, originally slow to introduce digital hearing aids is catching up with the new technology. Both the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government have given digital aids the green light.  NICE say that the digital revolution has changed practice and they have not issued any recent guidelines on hearing aids. They generally support NHS providers in implementing their guidelines but do not “police” them – the task of auditing the performance of the NHS being left to others, notably the Health Care Commission. 

Yes, complicated isn’t it!  Anyway, John has put me onto the recent survey of 400 UK hospitals by the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists. It generally paints a bleak picture.  Waits to get a first appointment and then to have an aid fitted are still a problem.  For the UK as a whole patients are waiting on average 47 weeks in total before a hearing aid is fitted. For those of us in Wales the figure is 93 weeks with one South Wales Hospital clocking up a total wait of over 200 weeks – an unenviable figure matched by another hospital in Northern Ireland.

The majority of the BSHAA’s members dispense hearing aids privately in the High Street where waits are usually counted in days rather than months. High Street dispensers are seeking more involvement in NHS work and might be said to have their own agenda but the waiting times speak for themselves.  

The private sector will remain an option for some people though for others cost will be a factor as will the trust that many people feel in approaching an NHS provider. Clearly though, we can all agree the NHS needs to do better.

What’s your experience of waiting for a hearing aid? Is it as bad as the figures suggest or have you had good and speedy service from an NHS or a private provider? Whatever your experience, wherever you live, I invite you to share it with Mature Times readers. Please let me know. 

You can e-mail me on davidkenny.gwentchc@chc.wales.nhs.uk or write to me via The Editor  editorial@maturetimes.co.uk

David Kenny,

Gwent Community Health Council