Audiology services - Pathetic HSE promises fall on deaf ears

IF there were rankings for muddling, overpaid, bureaucratic inefficiency, surely our Health Service Executive would deserve a high international ranking.

The list of inefficiencies seems as endless as the unfulfilled aspirations.

Vacuous performance, elaborate platitudes or empty promises will not solve our problems. If they would, those problems would have disappeared long ago, and we would have the kind of high-grade health service for which we have been paying. But the truth is that our health service is sick and getting sicker, because of the overpaid bureaucratic bungling. It will hardly be of surprise to anyone to learn that the HSE is inefficient in the treatment of hearing impairment.

At this stage, people would probably be surprised if they were told it was otherwise. In the circumstances, there is a danger that people will come to accept that bureaucratic inefficiency is the norm. There is therefore an onus on the news media to highlight the failings, even at the risk of becoming as predicable as the persistent failings of the HSE itself.

More than 11,000 people with hearing difficulties are on waiting lists for assessment, and nearly half of those have been waiting for over 10 months. A further 1,227 people have been waiting to have a hearing aid fitted. Around 200 of those have been waiting for over 10 months for a hearing aid.

“Nobody should have to wait that long for a hearing aid,” insists Niall Considine, consultant ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon at Sligo General Hospital. “It’s disgraceful.”

Over 65% of those waiting for assessment are children, which poses a serious problem as early intervention is vital for children for a better hearing and speaking outcome. Experts contend that it also makes better economic sense to treat children with hearing difficulties very early in life, because rehabilitating a six or seven-year-old child with a hearing impairment costs much more than those treated earlier in life.

The waiting period for patients referred to the ENT clinic at Sligo General Hospital for an initial hearing assessment is a maximum of six weeks. By contrast, only half the children referred to the Cork Audiology Service are seen within 39 weeks.

There were 684 children awaiting assessment in Cork as of June 2008. That was the most up-to-date figure available from the HSE, which is a further indictment of the degree indifference to the problem.

The HSE insists that referrals are prioritised so that patients with the highest risk factors are seen within a matter of weeks. Surely this highlights the fact that is totally unacceptable that anyone should have to wait over 10 months for an initial assessment.

The HSE states that terms of reference and membership of a National Needs Assessment of Audiology Service are being finalised “with a view to starting the national needs assessment shortly”.

What are they suggesting – that they have not actually even started to consider the needs yet?

Promises, promises, promises! It’s pathetic!