NHS Lothian sued for compensation by parents of deaf children over 'horrendous' mistakes

Parents of deaf children who were failed by NHS Lothian are suing the health board for compensation.
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An independent report published in December found “horrendous" mistakes had been made which led to children being identified as deaf years later than they should have, meaning they were not be given the help which could have made a real difference to their development.

The British Academy of Audiology (BAA) carried out an audit of the health board's hearing service for children and identified "a series of serious, significant issues", particularly for those aged five and under.

Some children missed out on vital help which could have made a difference to their development.Some children missed out on vital help which could have made a difference to their development.
Some children missed out on vital help which could have made a difference to their development.
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It looked at 1,113 patient records from 2009 to 2018 and identified “significant failures” in 155 cases.

The average age of a child being identified as deaf in NHS Lothian at the time was four-and-a-half years, compared with just 109 days in England.

Some profoundly deaf children were diagnosed too late for vital implant surgery.

More than a dozen families are now seeking compensation.

One couple said their daughter was born partially deaf and failed repeated hearing tests for years, but no help was offered by the paediatric audiology department at NHS Lothian who kept saying she would be fine.

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But the parents said her speech and language had not developed fully, she was sometimes hard to understand and her confidence had been affected.

Dad Joseph told the BBC that Sophie, now seven, was scared to socialise and would stand alone in the playground.

She did not go to parties in case the sound hurt her ears, he said.

And he said he had lost faith in the system. "More should've been done sooner."

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Mum Sarah said: "They failed Sophie. You kind of trust what they were doing, you thought maybe she doesn't need hearing aids, maybe she will just catch up and now she's almost eight years old and she's still not caught up and you think 'OK, maybe there were mistakes made then'."

The BAA report said NHS Lothian staff were deviating from professional standards and not enough checks were carried out, or data collected, to monitor how the service compared to other parts of the country.

Jonathan Howat, senior lawyer at Thompsons Solicitors, who is acting for a number of the affected children, said: "Families I represent have been treated disgracefully by NHS Lothian, as a result of delays in identifying and treating hearing impairments, the lives of many children have been made significantly more challenging.

"Our legal action against the health board will make sure that these children and their families are properly compensated."

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NHS Lothian medical director Tracey Gillies said: “We continue to implement the recommendations of the review, reporting directly to Scottish Government on our progress. Once again, we apologise sincerely to all affected children and their families for the failings identified by the review, and for the worry and distress caused.”

The Scottish Government set up a review in January to ensure that deaf services across the county – for both children and adults – were fit for purpose.

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