HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 c1398W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of hearing aids fitted under the NHS is represented by digital aids; and what proportion of hearing aids being fitted as current practice are digital. [71759]

Jacqui Smith

Information on the number of analogue aids fitted in the National Health Service is not collected centrally. We do however, know that services purchased 392,000 analogue aids from the NHS logistics authority in 2001–02. (These figures are exclusive of any purchases outside of NHS purchasing and supply agency contracts). By comparison, approximately 37,000 digital aids were purchased in 2001–02 by those involved in the modernising hearing aid services project that year with approx 28,000 being fitted as part of that project.