§ Mr. McWalterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to extend access to digital hearing aids to those who are hard of hearing and who have additional impairment of other faculties. [106451]
§ Mr. HuttonWe will be starting a project in England later this year to trial digital hearing aids for National Health Service patients. This project will help inform our plans to modernise hearing aid services. We anticipate that the project will cover 20 hearing aid departments and that an estimated 20–30,000 patients will benefit from the scheme. Ultimately, the project will lead to improvements for all NHS patients.
§ Mrs. Betty WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timescale is for the completion of the review by the NHS executive working group on hearing aid services; and if he will place a copy of the report of the working groups in the Library. [106834]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 25 January 2000]: The working group established by the National Health Service Executive was set up to identify areas for development in hearing aid services. There are no plans to publish a report of this work.
We will be starting a project in England later in the year to trial digital hearing aids for NHS patients. The pilot project will help inform our plans to modernise hearing aid services. We anticipate that the project will cover 20 hearing aid departments and that an estimated 20–30,000 patients will benefit from the scheme. Ultimately, the project will lead to improvements for all NHS patients.