asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the most recently available waiting times for National Health Service audiology services by English regions. [HL166]
Waiting times for pure tone audiometry by strategic health authority are set out in the following table:
September diagnostic return—commissioner, 15 November 2006 SHA code SHA name DiagID Diagnostic name Total waiting Number waiting 13+ weeks Number waiting 26+ weeks National 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 127,280 82,057 58,289 Q30 North-east 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 1,078 499 186 Q31 North-west 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 14,028 8,186 5,120 Q32 Yorkshire and the Humber 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 13,223 10,470 8,666 Q33 East Midlands 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 8,879 5,603 4,126 Q34 West Midlands 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 28,624 19,138 15,005 Q35 East of England 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 3,888 1,642 711 Q36 London 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 6,018 3,241 1,339 Q37 South-east Coast 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 15,982 11,989 8,912 Q38 South Central 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 11,289 5,945 3,535 Q39 South-west 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 24,270 15,343 10,689 Source: DM01
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What advice the Department of Health has sought from the professional bodies representing United Kingdom audiologists in formulating their national audiology plan. [HL169]
Our intention is to publish the action plan early in 2007. It is clearly essential that it should be informed by the views of the broad range of stakeholders, including the professional bodies, and that it should command broad support wherever possible. A working group has been established to develop proposals, but for reasons of size has not been designed to be representative of the various groups. A forum will be held before publication to ensure that stakeholder groups and others have a formal opportunity to consider possible proposals and contribute their views. The department has already had submissions from a number of professional organisations, and others are of course welcome to write with theirs. Whether or not there is formal consultation on the action plan or elements of it will depend on the nature of the measures.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration has been given to the maintenance of specialist audiology services within the National Health Service in plans to contract out audiology services to private providers; and [HL168]
What estimates have been made of the proportion of deaf people able to benefit from a hearing aid who have received such an aid.[HL170]
Information on the number of deaf people able to benefit from a hearing aid who have received such an aid is not held centrally.
A national action plan for audiology will be published in early 2007. The action plan will be aimed at improving access and reducing waiting times through a strategic improvement approach for the service. A working group is currently developing proposals for the audiology action plan. It will consider all the services that audiology departments provide, including specialist audiology services. In addition to the development of the action plan, the department has announced the procurement of up to 300,000 audiology pathways to provide assessment, fitting and follow-up. Both these measures will assist in significantly reducing waiting times and will greatly benefit those who receive hearing aids.