DIGITAL HEARING AIDS

Early day motion 183, tabled 21 November 2006 by Tim Loughton (Conservative). Signed by 85 members.

That this House shares the concern of RNID, the British Academy of Audiologists and many people waiting for life-changing digital hearing aids at the news that adult audiology services will not be subject to the 18-weeks' waiting time target from general practitioner referral to assessment; believes that this will exacerbate the lack of audiology funding as resources are diverted elsewhere and that patients, many of them older people whose independence is severely curtailed by the delay in getting a hearing aid, will increasingly face long waiting times, which are already over a year in many areas and in some cases over two years; and calls on the Government to publish the promised separate action plan for audiology as a matter of urgency.

Signatures by party: Labour 29, Conservative 25, Liberal Democrat 23, DUP 4, Social Democratic and Labour Party 3, Plaid Cymru 1.