Wait for hearing tests sees fed-up patients go private
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AN INCREASING number of people are paying for private hearing tests so they can avoid NHS Highland waiting lists.
The hearing tests and hearing aids, while freely available on the NHS, are also being offered by other firms including Inverness Hearing Services at their Strothers Lane treatment centre, for up to £2000-a-set.
Owner David Bryce, whose family-run firm has been operating for 30 years – and is the largest of its kind in Scotland – said he has never been so busy.
It comes as new data from NHS Highland shows adult patients presenting for the first time may have to wait up to eight months for assessment and hearing aids.
For children the waiting time for first audiology assessment is six weeks and there is no wait for children’s hearing aids.
NHS Highland said two vacant consultant posts would be filled soon.
And additional clinic rooms are opening up to cut waiting times.
Meanwhile, Mr Bryce is rushed off his feet - and is doing a lot more ear wax removal procedures than ever before because "GPs are no longer as keen to do it" for patients.
He said: "We are absolutely snowed-under in Inverness.
"I have never known it this busy before, it’s really within the last six to seven months. We are absolutely nose to tail all the time. We can’t lift our heads some days."
He added: "We would never talk the NHS down, we just simply offer another service, we tell patients the is just another option to them.
"We offer a completely different types of hearing aids.
"They’re all wireless and they can connect to mobile phones, TVs and PCs.
"We also do implants and you keep it down inside your ear canal for three months at a time.
"They are 100 per cent invisible.
"The NHS has only one type available. It’s like night and day."
He added: "We are ramping up our waxing removal services now, GPs are not keen to do it anymore.
"It’s called micro-suction and it costs £80.
"Previously there was not this facility in Inverness, its done by an ear nose and throat consultant at our centre."
NHS Highland said for children the waiting time for first audiology assessment is six weeks and there is no wait for children’s hearing aids.
For adults the average wait for a first audiology assessment is 11.5 weeks plus another of nine weeks for hearing aids.
However, the longest wait is a total of 35 weeks.
And for people that already have hearing aids and wish a re-check and replacement or adjustments, the wait is averaging 19.5 weeks.
The majority of these people have their changes done on the same day.
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland added: "The waiting list can vary if the patient needs to be seen under a sub-speciality of ophthalmology but our longest wait is up to 35 weeks for a new outpatient appointment. This does include paediatrics.
"Patients are assessed on clinical need."
She added: "Due to retirements we have two vacant consultant posts, however despite a national shortage of consultant ophthalmologists, we have recruited to one post with a start date to be confirmed and we are interviewing for a second post on later this month.
"We have also had vacancies across our orthoptic and optometry service, all of which have contributed to lengthy waiting times which is unacceptable.
"Within Raigmore Hospital we are about to have access to additional clinic rooms following a refurbishment and this combined with us holding a review of patient pathways will see an improvement in waiting times for our ophthalmic patients both locally and across Highland.
Highlands and Islands MSP David Stewart said it was good that children were prioritised on the waiting list but disappointing that adults have to wait do long.
He said: "Hearing loss and exclusion from communications can have a significant impact on a person’s daily life, causing feelings of loneliness, isolation, and frustration, particularly among older people."
