§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he would list all the current models of hearing aids, giving for each aid the type of user, the approximate number in current use and the current unit cost to the Department, respectively.
§ Mr. AlisonThe current models of hearing aids available under the National Health Service and the types of user are as follows
OL56—Standard body-worn aid for the majority of patients.OL57—Standard body-worn aid, with loop induction for school-children.OL58—High power, bone or air conduction, body-worn aid, with loop induction, for severely deaf patients.OL63—High power, air conduction, body-worn aid, with tone control, for severely deaf patients.OL67—Experimental head-worn aid, with loop induction for school-children over the age of 7.The number of each aid in current use is not known, but it is estimated that some 600,000 National Health Service aids are in service in England and Wales. It is not the practice to disclose the prices of commodities obtained under Government contracts.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for the Social Services if he will list, for each of the previous five years, the number of hearing aids issued, the number of hearing aids issued to people over 60 years of age, the cost of all National Health Service aids and the total cost of the hearing aid service, respectively.
§ Mr. AlisonThe number of hearing aids, including replacements, issued to 241W patients in England and Wales in each of the last 5 years is as follows :
1966 230,604 1967 225,977 1968 233,975 1969 250,466 1970 255,258 No separate record is maintained of the number of aids issued to people over 60 years of age.
Records are not maintained in a form which enables the cost of the hearing aid service to be identified separately within the total cost of ear, nose and throat services.
The approximate value of contracts placed for hearing aids, spares and components required in England and Wales in each of the last 5 years is :
£ 1966 427,000 1967 419,000 1968 622,000 1969 809,000 1970 783,000
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimates his Department has made of the proportion of people who possess a National Health Service hearing aid and do not make regular use of it.
§ Mr. AlisonNone.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps his Department is taking to bring the size and weight of National Health Service aids into line with modern hearing aid practice taking advantage of present trends to miniaturisation; and when can such aids be expected.
§ Mr. AlisonThe size and weight of the present National Health Service aids are not out of line with those aids of comparable types available commercially. Although miniaturised headworn aids have some advantages, chiefly cosmetic, they are not technically capable of suiting the full range of clinical conditions for which bodyworn aids are prescribed, and they are more costly.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many of the behind the ear hearing aids OL67 have been issued to children.
§ Mr. AlisonApproximately 16,500.
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§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many adolescents have had to stop using the OL67 because it had worn out and because the regulations forbid replacement when they have left school;
(2) what is the estimated annual cost of continuing to supply the OL67 to people who started wearing it at school.
§ Mr. AlisonThis information is not available but OL67 became available two years ago and has a potential life far exceeding this period and it is proving reliable in service. In these circumstances a meaningful estimate of the cost of changing the present arrangements cannot be made.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what estimates have been made of the approximate number of people likely to request a National Health Service behind the ear hearing aid if one were freely available; and what would be the unit cost of such an aid;
(2) what is the estimated additional cost to the hearing aid service of making a behind the ear hearing aid freely available.
§ Mr. AlisonUntil the study of the technical and medical implications of a post-aural aid, to which I referred in my reply to a supplementary question from the hon. Member for Willesden, West (Mr. Pavitt) on 22nd June, 1971. is further advanced, it is not proposed to estimate costs and likely demand.—[Vol. 819, c. 1173.]
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the occasions during the past five years when there has been a shortage of any hearing aid or its parts, giving details of models involved, the reason for shortage and the duration of shortage.
§ Mr. AlisonShortages affecting models OL57, OL58 and OL63 have occurred from time to time during the past 5 years owing to various production difficulties, but it would not now be practicable to provide details of each occurrence. It is expected that the considerable improvement in supply of these aids achieved in recent months will be maintained.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research his Department is supporting or considering 243W to produce a hearing aid for those deaf persons for whom no aids of current design are of any value.
§ Mr. AlisonA study is being made of the possible application of frequency transposition to assist certain categories of the severely deaf who obtain little or no benefit from present aids.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate has been made of the number of deaf people who are unable to benefit from National Health Service aids but do so from commercial aids.
§ Mr. AlisonNo estimate has been made. All but a very small minority of the deaf population should be able to obtain benefit from within the present range of National Health Service aids.