DELIGHT AT HEARING AID U-TURN
Councillor finally wins her five-year fight for free hearing aids
A LEEK councillor has won her fiveyear fight to get free hearing aids for people in the Staffordshire Moorlands.
Five years ago The North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) agreed to stop issuing free hearing aids to people with moderate hearing.
Since the decision, Leek county and district councillor Charlotte Atkins, right, has fought the move through both councils, along with the media.
Last year at a meeting in Leek, many residents spoke of their difficulties regarding hearing loss.
At the meeting, Councillor Atkins called on health bosses to reverse a “short-sighted” decision to make North Staffordshire the only area of the country that does not provide free hearing aids to all who need them.
Now at a meeting last week, the North Staffordshire Governing Body reversed their decision for those with moderate hearing loss.
A statement issued by the governing board said that all patients with moderate hearing loss will now become eligible to receive NHS hearing aids.
Until now, patients with moderate and mild hearing loss in North Staffordshire were only entitled to receive hearing aids if they met the criteria outlined in the Commissioning Policy for Adult onset hearing loss.
The new decision means the restrictions for moderate hearing loss have been removed, and all patients with moderate hearing loss can now receive hearing aids. The provision of hearing aids across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-trent was covered in the Difficult Decisions engagement, which was launched in January 2020.
This particularly looked to address “postcode lotteries”, where the availability of treatments, therapies or equipment varied according to where you live.
Work on Difficult Decisions was largely postponed later in 2020 to enable all clinical resources to concentrate on Covid-19.
Marcus Warnes, accountable officer for the Staffordshire and Stoke-ontrent CCGS, said: “Following the suspension of the Difficult Decisions programme, we were asked by a number of stakeholders to review the position on hearing aids in North Staffordshire.
“We undertook a review and recognise the likely outcome of future engagement and consultation is that no restrictions for moderate hearing loss will be implemented across the other five CCGS, and therefore the current restriction in North Staffordshire should be removed.
“This also means mild hearing loss is unchanged and remains part of the Difficult Decisions programme.”
The statement said it is not yet possible to say when the rest of the Difficult Decisions programme will resume.
While welcoming the news, Councillor Atkins said: “It has been a long and frustrating battle to get this totally unjustified decision by North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group overturned.
“I have challenged the NHS bosses responsible at every opportunity – at the county council, at the district council and through the media for five long years.
“It is a scandal that last year over 600 people in need of hearing aids were denied them in North Staffordshire, the only place in the whole country to do so.
“Clear irrefutable evidence of the health benefits of providing free NHS hearing aids was totally ignored by the CCG, causing untold suffering, mental health deterioration and relationship issues.
“It is particularly cruel that they have persevered with this disgraceful policy in the face of the Covid pandemic, when the isolation experienced by most of us was massively increased for those living with hearing loss but unable to afford £2,000 to £3,000 for private hearing aids.
“When I exposed the cost saving of this policy to be just £274 per person to the CCG, I have never felt so angry on behalf of Leek and North Staffordshire residents.
“It demonstrates the sheer arrogance of the North Staffordshire CCG leadership that they would stick with such a heartless policy, knowing the devastating impact it has on the lives of the people directly affected and their loved ones.
“I hope now that not only will Leek residents get the free NHS hearing aids to which they are entitled, but that the support they need with ongoing appointments, hearing aids’ maintenance and the supply of batteries is restored so elderly people do not have to travel to Hanley for everything.”