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	TX: 30.09.09 - Digital Hearing Aid Improvements PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

	Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 麻豆约拍 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. ROBINSON Since the 1990's here on You and Yours we've been reporting about the long, long NHS waiting lists for hearing aids - sometimes even as long as four years. Audiology services have been the poor relation because no one dies from hearing loss. But some people were dying before they reached the front of the queues. Now new figures from the Department of Health show people in England are waiting an average of just 4.7 weeks from being referred by their GP to getting a hearing aid. So how has this huge turnaround happened - especially given that as recently as 2007, 47,000 people were still waiting one year? Carolyn Atkinson has been to Charing Cross Hospital's Audiology Department in London where she met the senior specialist, audiologist Renee Rassasse who was doing the final tests on Vladivir Pollack's new digital hearing aid. RASSASSE Just went through some subjective testing now and just making some very challenging listening situations for Mr Pollack and he did really well, he answered all my questions in like those really silly questions, if you like, asking out of the blue and he managed to hear anything in spite of quite a lot of news that I was making here. So I think he's got nice balance now because naturally his right ear is also deteriorating now, so he's going certainly to benefit a lot from having binaural amplification. So I think he's - by the look of his face he seems to be really happy with what we've been testing so far. ATKINSON Here you are getting the aid fitted, how long has it taken to get to this stage? POLLACK Actually it was very, very quick really, what six weeks or something like that, it was very quick. Marvellous, the improvement is unbelievable really. ATKINSON What is different, what can you hear better? POLLACK Well everything really because before this it was, I don't know, most of the time I couldn't understand really what was said. When my wife spoke to me I gave the wrong answers because - now I have to find out naturally. But from what I find out now in here it's definitely much better - I can hear clearly what everybody tells me, what everybody says. ATKINSON Did you expect it all to happen this quickly or did you expect it to be a little slower than that? POLLACK Well I expected it to be slower, I was surprised it was as quick as it is. ATKINSON Because this is actually a second hearing aid you've had, you had your first one in 2005 and you are effectively being reassessed and upgraded now with new sort of better technology aren't you, do you notice the difference between 2005 and now? POLLACK Oh yes naturally because it's amazing really. In the past I couldn't tell left from right - I could hear the noise but I couldn't say which way it came from, you see, and today - nowadays well probably as well as when I was a young boy or something. ATKINSON You're a happy customer? POLLACK I am yes thank you. RASSASSE The waiting list as well, as he said, before he had to wait ages for the first appointment and now it is rather quickly and he seems to be really pleased with that as well and so are we. ATKINSON And from your point of view have you noticed that you're being able to get patients through much quicker? RASSASSE Oh yeah, you know sometimes we can even book the appointment straight away, so they leave here with an appointment already booked for them which is really good, you know, when we think about following them up and making sure that everything is done effectively. This is wonderful that we can be - we can manage the waiting list much more now, so it is good. POLLACK They're marvellous. ATKINSON You're going to have to listen to your wife now and do what she says. POLLACK Well I always do actually, so there's no problem in that respect. It's marvellous. ROBINSON Patient Vladivir Pollack and audiologist Renee Rassasse. So how have audiology units done it? Dr John Fitzgerald is Head of Audiology at the Norwich and Norfolk NHS Trust and advised the government on ways of cutting waiting times. Dr Fitzgerald your own waiting times are now down to an average of just over three weeks for new patients, how was it achieved? FITZGERALD Yes that's right. Well first of all it's important to say it's been achieved by a lot of hard work. I'm immensely proud of my staff who do work very hard to get through the patients and to implement the changes that have occurred over the last few years. And a lot of this is due to service re-design in bringing down the waiting times. ROBINSON And you did that, I understand, by creating new posts of audiology assistants, who are half the price of senior audiologists, is that right? FITZGERALD Yes that's right. I mean if we go back four years there was a national shortage of qualified audiologists and knowing that the Department of Health had just introduced the digital hearing aids we knew that there would be an increase - a significant increase in demand for hearing aids. So we made the decision locally to train senior assistant audiologists and essentially, as you say, you get two for the price of one in terms of a qualified audiologist. And we identified areas of work within audiology that was appropriate for the assistants to undertake. ROBINSON Now you're included in an 18 week target, it seems to suggest that targets - although lots of doctors hate them - have certainly worked in this case? FITZGERALD They certainly have. Although targets are a painful process to go through to meet them, what they have done, they've brought audiology into the spotlight really for the Department of Health and the targets for trusts, which - there's a great pressure to meet these targets - has ensured that audiology has been better resourced and that focus has been given to audiology to meet those targets. ROBINSON Dr John Fitzgerald, thank you. Jackie Ballard, the Chief Executive of the RNID, is here with me in the studio. Are things really then as good as they sound across the board? BALLARD This really is a good news story and the NHS has pulled out all the stops to turn around the waiting times, so that, as you've said Winifred, the majority of people are getting fitted within five weeks, which is quite incredible. And the hearing aid is really a lifeline for people with hearing loss. ROBINSON Anything you're still worried about? BALLARD Well yes of course, we're a campaigning organisation and the journey doesn't stop for the patient once they've got a hearing aid fitted. We want a quality follow up service, to make sure people are getting the best out of high spec digital aids, we want people to be reassessed on a routine basis as their hearing changes. And the hearing aid isn't the only thing that helps people with hearing loss. For example, if you're in bed at night you're not going to be wearing your hearing aid, how are you going to know if the doorbell is ringing or the baby is crying? It's important that people are signposted to other products that might help them with their hearing loss. ROBINSON Jackie Ballard from the RNID, thank you. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 麻豆约拍 is not responsible for external websites

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