§ Chris RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many digital hearing aids were fitted in each of the past seven years in each region of England. [180034]
§ Dr. LadymanThe national health service fitted very few, if any, digital hearing aids before September 2000. The modernising hearing aid services project began as a pilot project in September 2000, initially in only 20 sites. In the first 18 months of the project to April 2002, about 30,000 digital hearing aids were fitted. A further 42,000 aids were issued in the year to April 2003; and 80,000 were fitted in the year to April 2004. We are unable to give a breakdown of digital hearing aid provision by region.