'My world shrank due to delayed hearing treatment'

Doncaster Audiology Action Group founder Maggie Lockhart says the delays were frustrating

Thousands of adults and children are currently waiting to be treated for hearing impairments in Doncaster, figures suggest.

The backlog comes after parts of the audiology service were suspended at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) in October last year due to safety and quality concerns.

Campaigner Maggie Lockhart, 67, who said was forced to turn to private care after waiting nearly five years for a hearing aid, believes leaving people without the ability to hear properly could feel "dis-empowering" and "isolating".

DBTH apologised for the delays and poor care experienced by patients and said it was working to restore the service "as quickly as possible".

Last year, the hospital trust found problems as part of a national paediatric audiology improvement programme, whichit then tried to mitigate.

It was later discovered that improvements were not fully in place and that IT issues posed a "significant level of risk on service delivery", resulting in the temporary service suspension. Services have not yet fully resumed.

'Inconsistency'

Ms Lockhart, who founded Doncaster Audiology Action Group, said members felt the service had long been unfit for purpose, with many patients growing increasingly frustrated by having to wait years to have their hearing aids fitted or repaired.

"In January this year, I had to resort to spending nearly £4,000 on private hearing aids because my mental health was so low because of the fact that I was struggling to hear, and the NHS could not tell me when I would be seen," the retired mental health nurse from Doncaster said.

According to figures from DBTH, 891 adults and 1,144 children were waiting their first appointment with audiology service in Doncaster.

In total, 9,630 adults and 1,984 children are on the waiting list, although the hospital said a large proportion were not considered "active waiters" - for example, patients attending routine reviews.

Ms Lockhart said there was inconsistency in how cases were handled and highlighted that initial assessments often took place more quickly than subsequent appointments.

She said to address frustrations, the action group had urged the hospital to write to everyone on the waiting list to update them on the situation.

DBTH said they had made "clear progress" in dealing with the issues

When asked by the BBC to provide current figures on how many people in Doncaster were experiencing hearing loss or impairments, a spokesperson on behalf of DBTH and South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board said they did not hold this information.

Ms Lockhart said a health needs assessment was required: "How are they commissioning services appropriately if they do not know how many people with hearing loss live in Doncaster?"

She acknowledged work had been undertaken to get the service "ship-shaped" but said long delays had a profound impact on patients' daily lives, making even routine tasks difficult to manage.

When her own hearing deteriorated, she said she avoided going out and no longer felt safe in her own home, unable to hear if anybody was trying the door.

"I always had very acute hearing," she said.

"Imagine hearing birdsong and then suddenly not being able to hear it - suddenly the world shrinks."

DBTH provides audiology services at a site in Sandringham Road

DBTH said since the review, there had been "clear progress" in developing and improving audiology services, including increasing clinical activity, enhancing service pathways and strengthening its team to better meet demand.

Acting executive medical director Dr Nick Mallaband thanked people for their patience.

He said: "Sadly there have been a small number of cases where the care our patients received could have been better and we have met with those families to apologise for this, and support them with continued treatment."

Dr Mallaband said the hospital continued to offer services such as hearing aid repairs, replacement batteries, certain diagnostic tests and some hearing tests and was accepting new referrals.

He said anyone experiencing sudden or rapid hearing loss should seek emergency care while hearing problems caused by earwax build-up or infections could be supported by community pharmacists.

'Timely treatment'

Doncaster Central MP Sally Jameson, who previously raised the issue in Parliament, urged the trust and South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board to provide further resources to reduce waiting lists.

"Some residents are rightly still frustrated at the time it is taking to be seen and treated," she said.

"People with hearing impairments – from those who have long-term hearing loss to those who are experiencing early hearing loss – deserve timely treatment and dignity."

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