§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate has been made of the number of people in Northern Ireland who would benefit from a digital hearing aid who do not yet have one; and what plans there are to increase the number of patients using digital hearing aids. [188532]
§ Angela SmithThere are estimated to be over 100,000 hearing aid users in Northern Ireland, and audiologists consider that around 90 per cent. of these could benefit from a digital hearing aid (DHA).
The new hearing aids were introduced on the health service, on a phased basis, in October 2003 and are supplied to new hearing aid users, if appropriate. It will take a number of years to re-assess every existing user's suitability for a DHA.
The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has included the wider provision of the new hearing aids in its Priorities for Action 2004–05, setting a target to supply 5,000 DHAs per year. An additional £0.5 million per year has been provided for this purpose, making a total of £1 million per year allocated to the provision of DHAs.
§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients have been provided with digital hearing aids in each of the last 12 months. [188533]
1638W
§ Angela SmithInformation on the numbers of persons provided with digital hearing aids is not available for each of the last 12 months. However, during the period from October 2003 to the end of January 2004, approximately 2,000 persons were provided with digital hearing aids.