UK Council on Deafness

February 2005 Parliamentary Report

In this Report

• Digital Hearing Aids - Commons Written Answers (2 Feb 2005)
• Hearing Impairment - Commons Written Answers (2 Feb 2005)
• Digital Hearing Aids - Commons Written Answers (21 Feb 2005)
• Digital Hearing Aids - Commons Written Answers (21 Feb 2005)
• Digital Hearing Aids - Commons Written Answers (22 Feb 2005)

Commons Written Answers (2 Feb 2005)
Digital Hearing Aids

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what training is required for audiologists qualified to fit digital hearing aids within the NHS.

Dr. Ladyman: Audiologists currently fitting digital hearing aids in the national health service are required to have completed one of the three courses accredited by the British Academy of Audiology:

MSc (audiology) plus certificate of audiological competence

British Association of Audiologists part I and II 

Diploma in hearing therapy.

From 2005, the only entry qualification will be a BSc in audiology, which will provide sole access to the statutory register from 2008–09. From late 2005, all NHS audiologists will also be required to register with the Health Professions Council.

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Commons Written Answers (2 Feb 2005)
Hearing Impairment

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the value of Palantype speech to text reporting machines to hearing impaired people; and if he will make a statement.

Dr. Ladyman: None. However, the Department fully recognises the value to hearing- impaired people of speech-to-text technology.

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Commons Written Answers (21 Feb 2005)
Digital Hearing Aids

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Leicester, south are on waiting lists for digital hearing aids.

Dr. Ladyman: This information is not collected centrally.

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Commons Written Answers (21 Feb 2005)
Digital Hearing Aids

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for a patient to receive a digital hearing aid in England has been in each year since 2000.

Dr. Ladyman: This information is not held centrally.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many audiology departments there are in England; what proportion are routinely fitting digital hearing aids; and what he expects the proportion to be in March.

Dr. Ladyman: There are 164 national health service audiology departments in England. 95 per cent. (156) are, as of 9 February 2005, routinely fitting digital hearing aids. By the end of March 2005 all areas will be doing so.

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Commons Written Answers (22 Feb 2005)
Digital Hearing Aids

Sir John Butterfill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects on patients of waiting times for assessments for digital hearing aids in Bournemouth west; what proposals he has to help the Bournemouth teaching primary care trust to reduce this time; what steps he is taking to increase the number of audiologists; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information relating to the waiting times for patients waiting for assessments for digital hearing aids is not collected centrally.

In line with our policy of "Shifting the Balance of Power", it is now for primary care trusts (PCTs,) in partnership with strategic health authorities (SHAs) and other local stakeholders, to plan, develop and improve services for local people including audiology services.

I am advised by Dorset and Somerset SHA that the Bournemouth PCT is making good progress with reducing waiting lists by increasing in-house activity, and using private providers under the public private partnership scheme.

More generally, the modernising hearing aids services (MHAS) project is being managed on behalf of the Department by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf. Since September 2000, the MHAS project has been retaining audiologists and generally modernised services in a phased way to enable them to offer digital hearing aids to people who would benefit from them. The fourth and final wave should be complete by the end of March 2005.

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