Hearing aid wait hits 21 months

Audiologists say more investment is needed to increase capacity

People with hearing problems in the South West are having to wait up to 21 months to get digital hearing aids.

Patients in Exeter, east and mid Devon, seen at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital have to wait between 18 and 21 months. In Cornwall, it is 18 months.

There is a high demand for the new hi-tech devices and a shortage of qualified staff to fit them.

Clinicians said some waiting lists were being reduced but that more resources and investment were still needed.

'Life enhancing'

Julie Folkard of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust said: "The waiting list started for us when the new digital technology became available.

"People believed that their hearing could be improved by new technology and wanted to update their aid as soon as possible."

Those who already have a digital device said they understood why so many people were keen.

Digital hearing aids can be adapted to suit different environments

Devon patient Enid Radford said: "The best way to describe it is: analogue is like seeing a film in black and white, while digital is in colour.

"It does enhance your quality of life."

The government is expected to impose a maximum wait for hearing aids of 18 weeks by 2008. Clinicians say without a lot more resources it will be tough to meet that.

Jonathan Parsons of the Mid Devon Primary Care Trust said: "The waiting times are coming down gradually, but without more investment to help us increase capacity we're going to struggle."

Unlike analogue devices, digital aids can be adapted to suit the individual and adjusted to cope with different sound environments.