Changing the world for deaf and hard of hearing people

Audiology Services: The Patients’ Perspective

Shabnum MustaphaCommunications and Campaigns Manager RNID Scotland

9th February 2009

Patients’ Perspective

RNID consultation event on Patients’ Right Bill, January 2009

‘It’s a lottery as the health services are good in certain places but bad in others’

‘When I want to make an appointment with audiology, I have to rely on a friend phoning for me’

Patients’ Perspective

On waiting times:

‘It depends how serious your situation is: I was told ‘we only see emergency patients’ but then to be classified as an emergency, you have to see a consultant first. It’s a vicious circle. I asked my GP to be referred to another consultant and he advised me to go private. So then I got another GP who got me another appointment with a different NHS Board and that cut the waiting time’

Patients’ Perspective

‘The problem is that you have to try a hearing aid on a trial basis and then it can take a long time to tune it, test it in different environments such as the pub, outside, in the car, etc. It takes a lot of time and some NHS services cannot provide the support.’

‘The NHS only provides one type of hearing aid. We need to see a range of products otherwise it’s a bit like going to a shoe shop and all the shoes available are in size 6.’

Patients’ Perspective

‘At the hearing clinic, one of the nurses shouts patients’ names and wonders why nobody replies.’

‘The audiologist takes off your hearing aid and then he goes on talking, expecting you to understand’

Patients’ Perspective

‘I had been using the private sector for 12 years but then last year I went back to the NHS. I recently needed a new hearing aid and from start to finish it took only two months’

‘[the NHS] is a high quality service – the best health service in the world.’

Mixed views about using the private sector.

Patient-Centred Approach

Assumption - the reduced wait is here to stay and be improved upon

Broad interest groups around the table User/patient involvement Practicing audiologists Service commissioners Primary care Other stakeholders e.g. deaf organisations to advise on post-

diagnostic support

Real opportunities for progress

Five Priorities

1. Reduce waiting times

2. Quality assurance and enhancement

3. Move routine hearing aid provision out of the acute hospital

4. Implement hearing screening for adults

5. Provide ongoing support

Reduce waiting times

2006 audit - 26 week target Average wait was 33 weeks Ranged from 12 weeks to 92 weeks

18 week target by 2011 Waiting times available from April 2009

18 Weeks: Referral to Treatment Standards. Principles and Definitions

Patients’ Rights Bill – waiting time guarantee

Quality assurance and enhancement

Quality standards in audiology –

Scotland-widePeer review and sharing best practiceProperly monitored and used as a

tool to help audiologists improvePatients integral to the process

Practical change – waiting room experience

Move routine hearing aid provision out of the acute hospital

Design services with patients in mindPromote self-referralEnable GP’s to be more engaged Local accessibility with good integration with specialists (ensure commissioning pathways reflect this)

Practical change – repairs, maintenance and battery supply

Implement hearing screening for adults

Plan and deliver hearing screening for over 55’sIntegrate with primary care screeningLook at different methods for

encouraging people to come forward

to check their hearing and do something

about the resultRNID Hearing Matters campaign

Practical change – a reduction in the 10-15 years it takes for someone to take action once their hearing begins to go

Provide ongoing support delivered in more creative ways

Research digital hearing aid usageTie-in with quality enhancementRefocus service towards rehabilitationEnsure sign posting is available for peopleReview the information provided to people and work together to be more creative about its delivery and answer what people want to know and when they need to know it

Practical change – integrate volunteer support schemes into routine provision

Changing the world for deaf and hard of hearing people

‘Not everything that is faced can be

changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced’ – James

Baldwin