0 0 Campaigning for a National Hearing Care Plan Ireland needs a National Hearing Care Plan. We have 300,000 adults with significant hearing loss, who should have audiological support. Thursday 18 July 2024 Campaigning for a National Hearing Care Plan Ireland needs a National Hearing Care Plan. We have 300,000 adults with significant hearing loss, who should have audiological support – that’s according to the National Audiology Review Report of 2011. However, according to TILDA in 2017, only one in five older people with hearing loss had hearing aids, and they only got them as a ‘last resort’. In 2019 our own analysis showed that as a country we prescribe hearing aids at less than half the rate of the UK, and while this has improved slightly in the meantime, we are still more than a third behind. The body of research that demonstrates the considerable increased health risks associated with unaddressed hearing loss is growing, with dementia, depression and social isolation some of the most significant issues. On the other hand, recent research is also showing that hearing aids largely eliminate the increased health risks associated with hearing loss. The World Health Organisation also point out that for every €1 invested in hearing care, governments can expect a return of up to €16 euro over the following 10 years. Minister for Health In May 2023 we met with the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly T.D. to impress on him the need for a National Hearing Care Plan to improve access and oversight to audiological support and hearing aids. While audiology is clearly a health service, it might surprise readers to know that the Department of Social Protection, through the Treatment Benefit hearing aid grant, support more people to get hearing aids than the Department of Health/HSE. In late 2023 Department of Health officials confirmed to Chime the Department’s intention to set up a Working Group to develop a National Hearing Care Plan. In January 2024 they confirmed that this was progressing, that the Working Group would be set up in the coming weeks, that it would initially focus on adults and would be tasked with bringing forward recommendations for consideration in Budget 2025. Chime presented to the Oireachtas Committee on Health in February, and while progress has been slow in the meantime, the Minister has signed off on the terms of reference for the Working Group and the Department has now written to members of the Group. We expect them to begin their work soon, and in the meantime we have been liaising with the various stakeholders to support the process. What would a National Plan look like? Chime would expect a National Hearing Care Plan to improve care pathways, oversight and service standards, especially in relation to those receiving the hearing aid grant. We would also expect it to reduce HSE audiology waiting lists, improve the terms and conditions of the hearing aid grant, provide lifelong support to those with childhood hearing difficulties, and to educate the public on the need to protect hearing and to seek timely support when hearing difficulties arise. We will be actively encouraging all the parties involved to progress this work in a speedy manner so that the public will begin to feel the benefit of a National Hearing Care Plan in the near future. Links to further information: Charity calls for national hearing plan (breakingnews.ie) Hearing Loss Through the Noise (youtube.com) Chime Opening Oral Statement to Joint Committee on Health 28022024 Chime presentation to Oireachtas Committee on Health Feb 2024