NHS Hearing Aid Waiting List

@Um_bongo said:

Nobody goes bankrupt in this country due to medical bills you clown.

A bit forward. Maybe deserved, maybe not. I found both comments unneeded.
I have total respect for this poster.

I believe medical care is a basic human right, if you want to go private or have insurance then by all means if you can afford it do so, but some folks don’t have that choice… In the UK we pay National Insurance if you are working, it depends on how much you earn, the higher your salary the more you contribute, I probably pay around 300$ a month (I would gladly pay more) the N.I. Contributes to everyone’s medical care and a statutory government pension, if you are unemployed and on benefits you do not pay, but you get a N.I. Credit for your pension… The NHS for all its faults is a wonderful Health Service with some totally dedicated staff, sure it is underfunded but no one is turned away and they will do there utmost to help you given the resources available, it’s not free we pay for it in N.I. Contributions… Unfortunately for Big “D” and little “d”, their NHS Audioligist Departments are at the rear end of the funding cue as hearing is not classed as a life threatening ailment, so you’re not going to get the latest all singing and dancing hearing aids, you will get Hearing Aids that are technologically 3, 4 or 5 years behind, simply because that’s what they can afford, tis all down to mathematics, but you will get something which in my book is whole lot better than nothing. Hence I pay for private Hearing Aids myself, but that is my choice as I like the latest and greatest, but I am truthfully grateful for all the help I have had from the NHS Audioligist in the past, but now I can afford that choice… I reiterate many millions worldwide do not have that choice! Cheers Kev.

We are overly protective of our NHS Raudrive… Um Bongo works in the private sector, but Aneurin Bevan MP was one of the founding fathers of the National Health Service in the UK (late 40’s) and I believe Um Bongo is a fellow Welshman and rightly proud of Nye Bevan’s achievements. Cheers Kev.

@kevels55 said:

Um Bongo works in the private sector, but Aneurin Bevan MP was one of the founding fathers of the National Health Service in the UK (late 40’s) and I believe Um Bongo is a fellow Welshman and rightly proud of Nye Bevan’s achievements.

I was born in the Miners Hospital in Caerphilly, which was literally paid for by the Miner’s welfare fund. This kind of collaborative effort of the workers to ensure better healthcare and facilities for everyone formed the basis of lifting a whole generation out of grinding poverty and poor life outcomes. Most of my family still live in this area.

So, I might come across as a bit chippy about this, but when you’re only a generation or two from crippling poverty, chronic lung damage and worse; people making glib political points doesn’t really sit well.

I apologise to all concerned for any offence caused, and to @DanTheMan in person.

Edit: For a bit of context, this sort of stuff was still going on in the 1960s - Aberfan disaster - Wikipedia3

Hi. I didn’t have a repeat test for 5 years (young kids, too busy etc). I phoned them up and they offered me a test in 4 weeks and new aids 4 weeks later. I’m in nottingham. I realise we are very lucky here with that kind of service - especially considering they are using skeleton staff and everything takes 3 times longer due to masks, disinfection etc…

Sorry your wait is so long - that really is crazy. Is there a way to go over to england and see a service there ? In england we can choose where we go to for NHS stuff these days.

30 months and you’re worried if they’ll then be a wait after that for a hearing aid? I’d be worried if I would still be alive

It’s great you didn’t have to wait long, I don’t know if we can access services in England but I must look into it.

I have been moved up the list here but the clinic is closed due to COVID, hopefully I will now be seen within a year of the referral, much better than the original quoted timescale.

Carmarthen and Swansea. (Originally Bedwas) If you’re after a RIC for that money, we’re doing Bernafon Viron 5, which imho is a slightly better from a robustness/reliability point of view.

The Rechargeable is also quite good value, as it features a replaceable rechargeable cell, should you run into problems down the line. That removes a bit of the warranty headache.

In my experience, public healthcare has nothing to do with wait times for audiology services in Canada. We mostly have to pay out-of-pocket for hearing aids here in Canada (in Ontario, the government will kick in $500 per ear, which of course is nowhere near enough). I have two different insurance plans through my workplace and my wife’s, but I’ll still be paying thousands out-of-pocket. This is one of the areas where our medical services are quasi-American (like dental care), and it’s awful. You know not of what you speak.

Bumping this old thread to see if anyone knows about the current waiting times in England? I know I have had hearing loss since I was 20 but could never afford hearing aids and I still don’t know if they are an option for me.

I was just referred to the local Hospital’s ENT and my GP told me that due to the current situation I should expect the waiting times to be quite long and that they would contact me when they have an exact date but they weren’t able to tell me an approximate timeframe.

I’m curious if anyone has gotten hearing aids during the pandemic through the NHS and how long did they have to wait both for the referral appointment and for the hearing aid fitting? I certainly hope it’s not 30 months but to be honest I would completely understand if it were so.

Well I just got the letter for my appointment with the audiologist and it seems like the wait is going to be four months for me. If hearing aids are the best option for me I think I can expect to get them before the end of the year… not too bad!

Welp, just an update on this just in case someone from the UK is still interested in this. I just had my first appointment with the audiologist today because the appointment kept on getting cancelled and rescheduled. So, so far it’s been 6 months since my GP referred me.
I was offered hearing aids (Danalogic Ambio I think) but I still need some further exams done before I can get them fitted.
So maybe the wait right now from the moment you see your GP to the moment you get HA fitted could be around the 6-8 month mark (this is in England).

Here’s a website to look up what the Aids can do.

They work with an App but won’t stream music or calls unless you use a device, ie Phone Clip.

danalogic Ambio8

We care deeply about what we do, and our mission is to help more people hear better. This means making sure that as many people as possible who would…

@Zebras said:

They work with an App but won’t stream music or calls unless you use a device, ie Phone Clip.

Oh, thank you for the link! Yes, my audiologist explained that they work with an app but can’t use bluetooth or connect to other devices and I’d need an extra device for that.

I don’t know if I’ll get one though, I think I’ll see how I manage with the aids first. It seems I’ll have to wait around 4 more weeks to get them fitted, I’m kind of excited to try them on

I think this aids seem to be exclusive for the NHS? do you know if they have a commercial equivalent?