§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What representations they have had concerning the rate of progress in making the digital hearing aid available to National Health Service trusts; what percentage of hearing-impaired people they plan to have fitted with the aid by the end of each of the years 2002–03 and 2003–04; and when they expect digital hearing aids to be available to all those eligible for the aid. [HL2886]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathWe have received a great deal of correspondence regarding the Modernising Hearing Aid Services project, including over 10,000 postcards from the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. It is estimated that there are currently228WA 1.5 million hearing aid users in this country. We do not know the number of people with a hearing impairment who may benefit from an aid but are not currently using one. As of the end of January 2002, 16,352 people have been fitted with digital hearing aids by the 20 sites currently involved in the pilot project. We have announced that the additional £20 million funding for the project for next year will mean that there will be 50 sites fitting digital hearing aids by the end of March 2003. This will mean that one-third of the country will have access to a site participating in the project.
The research evaluation of this project will help to inform the modernisation of hearing aid services across the country. The Government will use the report to inform decisions about how best to make a modernised service available more widely.