Survey: Help NADP research NHS Audiology service experiences

The National Association of Deafened People (NADP) is conducting a survey collecting users’ experiences of the NHS audiology service to support their campaign for better audiology services.

Take the survey by clicking here.

Two recent events have emphasized the necessity to investigate the current provision and raise awareness regarding the adequacy and/or quality of these services.

The first event was the 2017 NADP conference held on the 6th of May in London. It was an exceptional event as it was a joint conference with the European Federation of Hard of Hearing People (EFHOH).

The topic of hearing care and person-centred approach was an essential part of the conference. Presentations, exchanges and discussions with our European counterparts highlighted the general misunderstanding of the various and complex conditions of hearing loss and deafness, the lack of communication with users, and for us, UK citizens, the effects of the NHS framework for Adult Hearing services.

Listening to the reactions, questions and comments of the public, it was obvious that quality of hearing care does matter!

The second event occurred later in summer via a post on the Limping Chicken regarding a user experience at an audiology service: “Joanne Swinbourne: Why I have trust issues. With audiologists” (01/08/2017). This post raised a certain (should I say massive?) buzz in social media and discussions within the Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing communities.

This post alone epitomises the experiences we have all had at some point: being offered a solution or devices which don’t suit our needs or requirements, because we are not asked how we cope and what we need. How many of us have been provided with hearing aids without any discussion regarding settings? How many of us have a copy of our audiogram to take home? How many of us have been rummaging on the Internet to try and fix a problem with hearing aids (such as adequate moulds) to resolve an issue which could have been resolved with the audiologist if we had had a simple discussion about “how it sounds”?

Technology is marvellous – hearing aids provision is priceless and must be defended, but all of this, without the consideration, understanding and involvement of each individual and their various and sometimes complex requirements is not an effective use of the resources.

This post confirmed the decision of the NADP to investigate the current provision and the question of “hearing care”.

Please take your time to fill in the questionnaire, at

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HBT7PR5

This survey will take approx. 25 minutes to complete.

Your answers will help us to gain better understanding of the service provision nationwide and support our case for improvements where needed.

Pass it around – the more data we collect, the better the picture and the stronger our argument will be.

The survey will close on 13^th of May and the initial results will be presented during the NADP Conference on 16^th June in London.

Thank you very much for your help and support.

Read more: If you wish to read more about the 2017 NADP/EFHOH conference held on the 6th of May in London,

https://www.efhoh.org/newsletter/ – December 2017

Read more: if you wish to read more about the National Association of Deafened People, http://www.nadp.org.uk/