CRAIG Hoy, a Conservative MSP for South Scotland, is supporting a call for NHS Scotland to make greater use of community-based audiology services to tackle waiting times following a visit to Specsavers in Galashiels.
Audiology services relate to the treatment of hearing loss. Currently, the average waiting time for a patient to receive audiology services in the NHS is 54 weeks. This has led to some patients not having issues relating to hearing loss identified in a timely manner, which can result in the worsening of conditions such as dementia if not identified early.
Specsavers are the largest provider of community audiology services in the British Isles, and the largest provider of publicly funded services for age-related hearing loss in England and the Republic of Ireland. Mr Hoy would like the Scottish Government to explore commissioning policy as part of a proposed pilot review of audiology care in Scotland.
The company have raised concerns about delays in the delivery of audiology services in Scotland and are supporting a planned NHS Scotland pilot for community-based audiology services and have called for the inclusion of ear-wax removal, which is currently not available on the NHS, within the pilot.
During his visit to the store in Galashiels, Craig Hoy met with Jonathan Bell, Edinburgh Specsavers Healthcare Director, and the branch’s audiology team.
The MSP said: “I was delighted to meet Jonathan and the team at Specsavers in Galashiels to find out more about their audiology services. It was also good to visit the store, which provides local services to the community and also generates local jobs for Borders-based residents.
“Audiology is an important service which can which can help alleviate health problems such as dementia if identified at an early stage. By allowing people to be treated for hearing loss earlier more people can have a better quality of life, avoid problems identified with social isolation and also spare people from the untold misery of later stages of dementia.
“Dementia costs the NHS millions of pounds and the fact that patients are waiting over a year to be treated for hearing loss in Scotland is not good enough. That is why I am supporting the campaign for NHS Scotland to fund community-based testing and treatment of audiology services in order that nobody with hearing loss is left behind. I am also pleased to have made representations through written questions about this matter in the Scottish Parliament.”
