Chamberlain calls for audiology services to be made available on the high street
North East Fife MP and Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader Wendy Chamberlain has today called for audiology services to be made available on the high street rather than solely by GP referral as she revealed that the average wait for an audiology wait in Fife is now over a year and one patient had to wait almost five years.
A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to NHS Fife has revealed that the current average wait for over 18s over the last year is 395 days, with the longest wait running to 1,804 days.
For preschoolers the average wait is 265 days and for school age children it is 310 days. The longest wait for someone of school age was 791 days, or more than two years.
At present audiology services such as hearing aids can only be received via referral from a GP. In the Scottish Government NHS Recovery Plan 2021 – 2026 there was a pledge to introduce audiology as a primary care service. However this has not been realised.
Following the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland) published in August 2023, the Scottish Government agreed that Audiology would be re-categorised as a clinical priority area.
The Independent Review noted a number of systemic problems including:
· an absence of national leadership, strategic planning and workforce planning.
· no quality assurance of services
· clear evidence of workforce shortages, limited access to undergraduate and postgraduate training programmes and few opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD) once in post.
Ms Chamberlain said:
“These long waits are a huge source of frustration for my constituents. If your hearing is going and you need a hearing aid or you are concerned about your child’s development, you don’t want to have to wait almost a year for care.
“Rather than have to arrange to see a GP who will then refer you to the Audiology team, high street operators to provide some of these services in much the same way that they can carry out eye tests, could be an option worth exploring.
“This would reduce pressure on GPs and help to bring down waiting times.
“There will always be elements of care which are more appropriate to carry out within the NHS but where the private sector has the capacity and skills, it seems naïve not to make the most of them, while ensuring that there is no cost to patients at the point of use.
“The Scottish Government may claim that it remains committed to enhancing audiology services, and to its vision for an integrated, community-based audiology service but few of the problems that the government admitted five years ago were holding back services have been solved.”
