NHS scandal of the 2m-year wait for a hearing aid
PATIENTS are being forced to wait for up to an astounding two-and-a-half years for hearing aids, it was revealed yesterday.
The latest postcode lottery scandal shows that barely any NHS service in England is meeting the 18-week target laid down by the Government.
And 10 primary care trusts are failing to provide treatment within a year, said the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.
The average wait across the country was 22 weeks in 99 areas, affecting more than 28,000 people.
In these unacceptably long waiting times patients’ hearing can deteriorate further, warns the charity.
And many coping with hearing loss are simply left to become more and more “isolated and depressed”.
The worst offender was Kingston upon Thames, an affluent suburban area in south-west London.
One patient had to wait 125 weeks – almost two-and-a-half years – to be fitted with a hearing aid after first consulting a GP.
Next came Suffolk, at 78 weeks, Gloucestershire (72), Washington Health Centre in Tyne and Wear (68), Ealing (67), Havering (64), Sunderland Royal Hospital, Tyne & Wear (62), Shepway (58), Mid-Essex (56), and South Tees (54).
The charity used the Freedom of Information Act to question 152 primary care trusts about their waiting times and waiting lists. Eleven did not supply any figures for waiting lists and a third didn’t respond at all.
“We can only guess that those that didn’t reply are even worse,” said Jackie Ballard, chief executive of the institute.
She added: “Not only is it possible that your hearing might have changed during that time, but much more importantly, all the time you’re isolated from your friends, family and even your colleagues.”
The charity fears many trusts will simply be unable to deliver on the the Government’s 18-week pledge, which was supposed to be the norm by December 2008.
The charity has condemned health chiefs for failing to take hearing loss seriously, and urged them to “end this scandal”.
Brian Lamb, its director of communications, said: “Despite Government assurances, an 18-week target is a distant dream for thousands of people who are waiting more than a year for their first hearing aid while battling isolation and depression because of their hearing loss.”
“If you struggle to pick up every word, hearing aids are a lifeline to work, friends and family.”
Despite noting major problems with hearing-aid provision in Parliament in May this year, the Government has failed to decrease waiting times, added Ms Ballard. She said: “I haven’t seen any evidence of the Government making any changes. It needs to keep the figures centrally and put more pressure on the PCTs.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We acknowledge that audiology waiting times in parts of the country are too high.
“That is why we recently published a national framework which sets out the tools the local NHS needs to transform this service.”
The best-performing trusts – all of which treated patients within four weeks – were Norfolk and Norwich, Southampton City and Bolton.
