New hearing aid target set as patients wait up to 70 weeks.
Health trusts are being told by the government to make sure people with routine hearing problems are assessed for a hearing aid within six weeks. Thousands of people in the North West of England are being forced to wait up to 70 weeks for tests to see if they need a hearing aid. Stockport has been found to be the worst area for waiting times.
Under new guidance sent to primary care trusts (PCTs), patients with complex problems who need to see a consultant should be seen within 18 weeks. The other 50% of patients who need a routine hearing aid fitted should be assessed within six weeks, it says.
New guidance advises the NHS to set up one-stop shops to speed up assessment and fitting and to use the private sector to help tackle demand.
Health minister Ivan Lewis admitted waiting times in some parts of the country were "unacceptably long".
Some reports have suggested some patients are having to wait as long as five years for replacement hearing aids.
The number of referrals to consultants could be cut by a fifth with patients instead being referred directly through audiology services, the guidance advises.
And although there is no target for the length of time between assessment and fitting, the Department for Health said improvements in technology meant that many people did not need separate appointments.
A report from the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (BSHAA) published last year showed that some people were having to wait up to five years to switch their old-fashioned analogue hearing aid to a better digital model.
Government figures from 2006 show that of all patients waiting for an audiology referral, two-thirds had been waiting longer than 13 weeks.
And a recent report by Conservative MP Grant Shapps found that average waiting times were 40 weeks, with reassessments taking over a year.
Mr Lewis said there was no justification for the delays as there was already enough cash in the system.
Mr Shapps, MP for Welwyn Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, said he was disappointed by the report and was sure targets would not be met by next year.
"This report has a lot of noble aims but no practical measures. This is part of a much wider problem about competing pressures within PCTs," he said.
Shadow health minister Tim Loughton said: "The long waiting lists for digital hearing aids are amongst the biggest scandal in the NHS, particularly for the elderly population."
Dr John Low, chief executive of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, welcomed the push to reduce delays but said he would hope waiting lists could be reduced before 2008.
"The commitment to purchase substantial additional capacity from the private sector is particularly welcome since the NHS will not be able to fit hearing aids to 300,000 extra people through productivity gains alone," he said.
Karen Finch, chairwoman of the BSHAA, said a long-term sustainable solution was needed.
"Engage with High Street hearing aid audiologists," she said."There are 1,400 of us and we believe that we have the immediate potential to help the hard-pressed NHS out. We are a skilled resource, trained to dispense hearing aids."
From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6420205.stm
Under new guidance sent to primary care trusts (PCTs), patients with complex problems who need to see a consultant should be seen within 18 weeks. The other 50% of patients who need a routine hearing aid fitted should be assessed within six weeks, it says.
New guidance advises the NHS to set up one-stop shops to speed up assessment and fitting and to use the private sector to help tackle demand.
Health minister Ivan Lewis admitted waiting times in some parts of the country were "unacceptably long".
Some reports have suggested some patients are having to wait as long as five years for replacement hearing aids.
The number of referrals to consultants could be cut by a fifth with patients instead being referred directly through audiology services, the guidance advises.
And although there is no target for the length of time between assessment and fitting, the Department for Health said improvements in technology meant that many people did not need separate appointments.
A report from the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (BSHAA) published last year showed that some people were having to wait up to five years to switch their old-fashioned analogue hearing aid to a better digital model.
Government figures from 2006 show that of all patients waiting for an audiology referral, two-thirds had been waiting longer than 13 weeks.
And a recent report by Conservative MP Grant Shapps found that average waiting times were 40 weeks, with reassessments taking over a year.
Mr Lewis said there was no justification for the delays as there was already enough cash in the system.
Mr Shapps, MP for Welwyn Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, said he was disappointed by the report and was sure targets would not be met by next year.
"This report has a lot of noble aims but no practical measures. This is part of a much wider problem about competing pressures within PCTs," he said.
Shadow health minister Tim Loughton said: "The long waiting lists for digital hearing aids are amongst the biggest scandal in the NHS, particularly for the elderly population."
Dr John Low, chief executive of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, welcomed the push to reduce delays but said he would hope waiting lists could be reduced before 2008.
"The commitment to purchase substantial additional capacity from the private sector is particularly welcome since the NHS will not be able to fit hearing aids to 300,000 extra people through productivity gains alone," he said.
Karen Finch, chairwoman of the BSHAA, said a long-term sustainable solution was needed.
"Engage with High Street hearing aid audiologists," she said."There are 1,400 of us and we believe that we have the immediate potential to help the hard-pressed NHS out. We are a skilled resource, trained to dispense hearing aids."
From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6420205.stm
Labels: deaf, hearing aids, waiting times
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