IrishMedicalNews

The silent problems of audiology

Written by IMN Monday, 23 March 2009 00:00

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Editorial Comment

OUR VIEW: A national needs assessment of audiology services is pertinent

Conducted by audiologists from the UK, the review was set up in December following concerns by clinicians within the Cork Audiology Department about incomplete patient charts for community-based audiology services provided from September 2001 to December 2007.

While the HSE has stressed the repeated hearing tests are precautionary and that the probability of identifying undiagnosed hearing loss is anticipated to be low, it is undeniable there will be some fallout and the Executive has rightly apologised.

But, if there is any good to come out of this, it will be to highlight the dearth of resources (funding, manpower, education and training, and facilities) for  audiology services in Ireland and the need for a systemic overhaul of services.

The Irish Society of Audiology (ISA) survey of all 30 audiology departments in Ireland 2008/ 2009 concluded that the services have historically experienced low funding and an increase is unlikely, unless they can show that additional resources are needed.

The survey’s results illustrate this deficit – services are often characterised by low staffing levels, long waiting lists, and outdated/inadequate equipment and poor facilities.

Of the 22 out of 30 services that responded to the questionnaire, 15 cared for children while 18 provided services to adults.

Seven out of the 15 services (46.7 per cent) providing children’s services have waiting lists in excess of six months, four of which have lists in excess of 12 months with three of them comprising of more than 1,200 children.

Six out of the 18 (33 per cent) adult services have waiting lists in excess of six months, four of which are over 12 months long, with two of them numbering to over 1,200 adults.

Furthermore, patients may have to wait for an ENT opinion prior to being referred to audiology.

This, according to the IAS, has implications for the introduction of a universal neonatal hearing screening programme and means there will be extra referrals into already overstretched departments.

Respondents also indicated the need to create 49.7 WTE audiology posts over the next five years, which represents a doubling up of numbers.

However, it is difficult to find qualified personnel to fill vacancies, for instance in Galway the HSE West, as previously reported by IMN, has been trying unsuccessfully to recruit a community based audiological scientist for over three years now, largely owing to a dearth of local educational opportunities.

The difficulty is trying to achieve sufficient students to make such courses financially viable given our population size, and it is worth noting that Ireland does not have a blanket provision for free hearing aids similar to the NHS so private sector involvement is less enthusiastic here.

It is welcome then that the HSE is to proceed with a national needs assessment of audiology services, to be informed by the Cork review, led by the HSE Primary Community Continuing Care (PCCC) Directorate to examine the current need for services, provision and supply of professional staff.

However, this review is just the first step. It needs to be carried out in a timely manner, published and, most importantly, acted upon to ensure the issues with audiology services are solved. We do not want a repeat of the army deafness or cancer review scandals.