§ Mr. HendrickTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects NHS trusts in Lancashire to provide digital hearing aids; and if he will make a statement. [50541]
§ Jacqui SmithDigital hearing aids are provided in Lancashire by the Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust, a first wave site. An announcement about which second wave NHS trusts will be providing digital hearing aids this year was made in my reply to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreman (Mr. Loughton) and the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 10 April 2002,Official Report, column 465W. Fairfield hospital, Bury and Southport and Ormskirk hospital did express an interest but were unable to gain the support of the respective primary care trusts. No other sites in Lancashire expressed interest in this round. In addition to the second wave sites, we hope to be able to provide at least a further 15 sites with the training and equipment they need to start fitting digital hearing aids from April 2003. Trusts in Lancashire, together with others in England, have an opportunity to participate in this next phase.