Community hearing services deliver strong patient results as well as saving capacity in secondary care, new findings have shown.
According to an outcomes dataset published by the National Community Hearing Association (NCHA), during 2013-14 adult community hearing services enjoyed a 98 per cent patient satisfaction score, with 90 per cent of patients using their hearing aids after one year.
The results, which showed community hearing care had added 562 new locations to the NHS estate, also outlined how the service led to shorter waiting times and all patients accessing follow up care in the community. Figures were derived from 88,000 patient appointments.
[CaptionComponent="989"]Mark Georgevic, NCHA chair, said: ‘It is clear that patients welcome and benefit from the service. Community hearing care empowers people to take control of their condition, enabling them to remain independent and active in their community. The knock-on health benefits and saved capacity in secondary care mean commissioners can make use of existing community infrastructure without additional capital investment.’
A statement by the NCHA said the results supported a Department of Health vision, first published in 2007 and reiterated in 2012, that hearing care should be provided closer to where people live. They also met goals set in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View of delivering more care outside traditional hospital settings.
The organisation added that just as most people with age-related vision changes did not need to go to hospital to see an ophthalmologist, most with age-related hearing loss did not need to go to hospital.
David Hewlett, NCHA chief executive, said: ‘These data show what can be achieved in the community at scale through better commissioning. If this doesn’t send a clear message to commissioners about what commissioners and providers can do together when the focus is on the patient and their needs, it is hard to know what will. We must now work with all providers and commissioners to put patient outcomes at the heart of everything we do.’
The NCHA will join sister company FODO with their own stand at Optrafair on April 18-20 in Birmingham, where visitors will be able to learn about providing hearing care alongside their optical practise.
