01.04.12
Hear to help partnership delivers life-changing support for thousands
Source: National Health Executive March/April 2012
Louise Pritchard, managing director of services at Action on Hearing Loss, discusses the Hear to Help programme.
Hearing loss is a major public health issue affecting more than 10 million people in the UK – one in six of the population. As our population ages, this number will grow and reach 14.5 million people by 2031.
People take an average of ten years to take action when their hearing starts to deteriorate, and GPs have a poor record of referring on people with hearing loss for early intervention. Indeed, research has shown that 45% of people who report hearing problems were not referred by their GP for any intervention, such as referral for a hearing test or hearing aid.
This delay in taking action to address hearing loss can have significant personal and social costs as it can lead to higher levels of social isolation and more than doubles the risk of depression experienced by older people. Action on Hearing Loss – formerly RNID – has worked closely with the NHS to improve audiology services and, over recent years, there have been significant advances. The Modernising Hearing Aid Services Programme (MHAS), which was launched by the NHS and project managed by RNID, ensured that more than 400,000 people were fitted with digital aids by 2005.
Following the modernisation of audiology services in 165 trusts, including more than 350 audiology clinics, all NHS services in England now fit 500,000 people with digital hearing aids each year. ‘Big beige banana’ hearing aids are also now a thing of the past having been replaced by an improved choice of designs – especially for people with mild or moderate hearing loss.
These advances marked a significant improvement in audiology services but there are still major challenges around the accessibility and integration of services. Access to hearing services is currently poor and only one in three people who could benefit from hearing aids actually do – leaving 4 million people with unaddressed needs. Furthermore, almost 80% of people who have been fitted with a hearing aid received no information about other services or assistive technology that can help them adjust to life with hearing loss; for example amplified telephones, listening devices and lip-reading classes.
Getting used to wearing hearing aids takes time and even just basic support can often make the difference between someone persevering with their hearing aids or giving up, leaving them in a drawer, and potentially cutting themselves off from their work colleagues, families, and friends.
In 2004, Action on Hearing Loss set up its first Hear to Help project in Rotherham to offer free support to people who have been fitted with NHS hearing aids. The service has made a fantastic impact by reducing the loneliness and isolation experienced by people with hearing loss by supporting them in community settings and through home visits. The local audiology department also benefits as the project reduces patients’ demand for basic hearing aid support and means the audiologists can focus on providing more specialist treatment.
The project has a simple, but extremely effective, model in which volunteers, many of whom have a hearing loss themselves, are trained to show others how to get the best performance from their NHS hearing aids, so that they can hear more clearly. The volunteers help people to carry out basic maintenance on their hearing aid, such as replacing tubing and batteries, as well as providing advice on equipment that can make life easier in the workplace and at home.
Action on Hearing Loss now runs 22 Hear to Help projects across the UK, which make around 50,000 interventions to help service users each year. The latest project to launch – Manchester in January 2012 – is delivered in partnership with Manchester Royal Infirmary and Manchester Withington Hospital Audiology departments. A Community Support Worker currently working with four volunteers holds seven regular dropin sessions in GP surgeries, health clinics, libraries and other venues across Manchester and Withington. The service in Manchester aims to support 650 hearing aid users before the end of the financial year, with a further 2,000 support interventions after three years.
From Dundee to Devon and Belfast to Berwick, the success of Hear to Help has demonstrated effective partnership working with audiology departments and sensory service teams as well as showing NHS hearing aid wearers’ high demand for post-fitting rehabilitation services. Many of the projects were established by funds raised by The Co-operative Group’s Charity of The Year fundraising for Action on Hearing Loss in 2009. However, to sustain and extend this essential life-changing support, funding from other sources, such as the NHS and local authorities and other service providers, is vital to ensure the services can continue.
If future funding is not found, the loss of Hear to Help projects will impact on the everyday lives of thousands of people with hearing loss and substantially increase health and social care costs for treatments further down the line.
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