§ Lord Beaumont of Whitleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to rectify the position outlined in Note 134 from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology that the best model hearing aids "are not always available through the National Health Service". [HL1038]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)Note 134 is misleading in its use of the word"best". There is no one "best" hearing aid that can be supplied to hearing impaired people in general or to an individual. Each user has different requirements, preferences and circumstances which can change with time. The hearing aid user wants to be able to have the choice from a wide range of hearing aid models. The National Health Service has always made available cost efficient and beneficial hearing aids to its patients. It has always provided all kinds of hearing aid types which have been supplied by all the high quality world famous manufacturers.
However, technology is always advancing and a project will start in England later this year to trial digital hearing aids for NHS patients. This project will help to inform our plans to modernise hearing aid services. Detailed proposals for the scheme are being developed but we anticipate that the project will cover 20 hearing aid departments and that an estimated 20,000–30,000 patients will benefit from the scheme. 37WA The project is intended to lead to improvements for all NHS patients.