NHS and private sector should collaborate on hearing loss treatment - Susan Dalgety

If I had had a spare few thousand pounds, says Susan Dalgety, I could have got a hearing test and devices within a few days instead of waiting nearly a year

I researched private devices, but decided my credit card limit was too stretched to afford a pair, so asked to be added to the NHS waiting list.

I languished on the waiting list for nine months, during which time my hearing got worse. Friends are fed up of me asking “what did you say?” several times during even a short conversation.

Meals out in busy restaurants or drinks in a pub have become well-nigh impossible, as a cacophony of background noise drowns out my companions. I spend most of the time grinning inanely and agreeing with the person across from me. Goodness knows what nonsense I have said “yes” to in the past year. Meetings are a nightmare, unless they are online. I spent three hours recently in a room with 15 people, and I heard only about 50 per cent of what was said. I can’t even pick up whispered asides, usually the most interesting element of any gathering.

But hopefully I will soon be back in the land of the hearing. I live less than a mile away from NHS Lothian’s audiology department, so when I got an unexpected call a few weeks ago telling me there was an appointment available following a last-minute cancellation, I was on the 27 bus before you could say “ear trumpet”. It turns out I have age-related hearing loss in both ears, but the loss is much more severe in my right one because of a historical viral infection. Who knew that a childhood infection like chickenpox or a more recent bout of Covid-19 could damage your hearing?

I am now waiting patiently for my NHS devices. Apparently they are Bluetooth enabled, so I will be permanently connected to my favourite podcasts now and no-one will know. But why did it take so long for my disability to be treated? Because make no mistake about it, deafness is a disability. If I had had a spare few thousand pounds, I could have got a hearing test and devices within a few days instead of waiting nearly a year.

And in several months’ time, I may even be able to buy a pair of ear buds with hearing aid capability for only a couple of hundred pounds. Earlier this month, Apple announced new software that will transform AirPods Pro into a clinical-grade hearing aid in 100 countries, including the USA, Germany and Japan. But not the UK yet, as the NHS will have to give its approval first.

Hearing loss is one of those areas where there should be a much more active relationships between the NHS and the private sector. The NHS should focus on complex deafness, while people like me with common or garden hearing loss should be offered a voucher towards the cost of private hearing devices. Surely that would save the NHS millions every year? Or is that too simple a solution?