Hearing Aid Waiting times will not fall unless vacancies are filled - Burstow

4.38.13pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 16th Oct 2006

Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam, has spoken out today about the high number of vacancies for audiologists in London and the crisis in audiology which is affecting the capital.

Figures obtained by Mr Burstow from the RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf People) reveal that nearly 1 in 10 audiology positions in the capital are vacant. Vacancy rates in London are 9.8%, compared with an average of 3.2% for England as a whole.

These figures come in the wake of information which shows 11.5% of people referred to an audiologist in Sutton and Merton wait more than 6 months for a first appointment. But the time it takes for an actual fitting of a hearing aid could be much longer - as much as two years according to anecdotal evidence from audiologists provided to the RNID.

The government has recently introduced a target of 18 weeks from GP referral to hospital treatment by the end of 2008. However, treatment for hearing problems by audiologists has been expressly excluded from this target.

Commenting on the figures, Paul Burstow MP said:

"It is a travesty that local people with hearing difficulties are being denied access to new digital hearing aids which can revolutionize their lives, simply because we do not have enough trained audiologists"

"The deterioration of someone's hearing can have a huge impact on their quality of life.

"The government's lack of focus on this area means that people are left waiting far longer than they should be."