Internal Reference Number: FOI_9400
Date Request Received: 08/05/2026 00:00:00
Date Request Replied To: 09/06/2026 00:00:00
This response was sent via: By Email
Request Summary: Routine adult NHS audiology services - SA国际传媒
Request Category: Companies
| Question Number 1: Please accept this email as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This request relates to routine adult hearing loss audiology services delivered by SA国际传媒 to NHS patients. It excludes paediatric services, complex audiology pathways, and specialist ENT led medical or surgical outpatient activity. For the purposes of this request, a routine adult audiology pathway means NHS funded care for an adult patient that begins with an initial hearing assessment and may include hearing aid fitting, planned follow up and ongoing aftercare. Although services may differ in hospitals, in a typical commissioned NHS community audiology service a routine adult audiology pathway is commonly structured around hearing aid fitting followed by ongoing aftercare, with a standard review point at the third year anniversary (36 months) of hearing aid fitting. Reaching this review point does not automatically trigger a new hearing assessment. Instead, a clinical review determines whether reassessment is required under the commissioning rules in place. Where reassessment is not clinically indicated, patients continue to receive aftercare on the same pathway beyond 36 months. Patients remain on the same routine adult audiology pathway until one of the following events occurs: 鈥� A clinically indicated change in hearing occurs and reassessment is required. 鈥� The maximum pathway length defined by the commissioner (measured from the date of hearing aid fitting) has been reached. This is the point at which the hearing aids (because of age related wear, deterioration or obsolescence), are automatically considered as no longer clinically appropriate under the commissioned pathway (for example, five years from the date of fitting). Reassessment is required at whichever of these events occurs first. This context is provided solely to frame the questions below. Responses should reflect the service arrangements and pathway definitions used by the Trust. Please answer each question separately. Where information is not held, please state this explicitly. Q1. Length and review structure of the routine adult audiology pathway: a) Where hearing aids are fitted, please state the standard review point applied within the commissioned routine adult audiology pathway used by the Trust, expressed as the number of months from the date of hearing aid fitting (for example, 36 months). b) Where a defined review point is used, please describe what normally happens at that point under the commissioned pathway, including: 鈥� Whether patients continue on the same pathway with ongoing aftercare where reassessment is not clinically indicated OR 鈥� Whether reaching the review point automatically ends the pathway and triggers reassessment. c) Please state whether the commissioned pathway used by the Trust defines a maximum time limit for a routine adult audiology pathway (measured from the date of hearing aid fitting) at which point a reassessment and new pathway are automatically required if this has not already occurred (for example, 60 months). If Yes, please state the duration in months. Where no standard review point or maximum pathway duration is defined within the commissioned pathway, please state 鈥渙pen ended鈥�. | |
| Answer To Question 1: 1a: 48 months 1b: Patients continue on same pathway, unless there has been a technology upgrade (new hearing aid) in which case they would receive reassessment and new pathway begins. If technology has not changed they continue on same pathway with unlimited access to aftercare. It is rare that reassessment would not occur if patient feels hearing has deteriorated and hearing aids have been verified to have correct output. 1c: Open ended | |
| Question Number 2: Eligibility and referral access into hospital audiology: a) Which referral routes are accepted for entry into the Trust鈥檚 routine adult audiology service? Please state whether each of the following is accepted: 鈥� GP referral 鈥� ENT referral 鈥� Internal hospital referral 鈥� Other referral routes (please specify) b) During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, how many referrals for routine adult hearing loss were accepted into the Trust鈥檚 audiology service from each referral route listed in part (a)? c) During the same 12 month period, how many patients counted in part (b) had an ENT outpatient appointment before their first audiology appointment? | |
| Answer To Question 2: 2a 鈥� GP referral - yes 鈥� ENT referral - yes 鈥� Internal hospital referral - yes 鈥� Other referral routes (please specify): Community based clinical referrals, if coming from unconventional source, referrals will be triaged on a case by case basis by senior leadership team. Please see IS Team response to Q2b,2c,3,4,5,6,7,9,10 in the Excel spreadsheet attached. To accompany this answer to question 2 please also see the documents listed below:  13728 - FOI_9400 - Routine adult NHS audiology services - SA国际传媒 v2.xlsx | |
| Question Number 3: Patient age profile: During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, how many routine adult audiology patients were seen in each of the following age bands? a) 18-49 b) 50鈥�54 c) 55 and over | |
| Answer To Question 3: See response to Q2. | |
| Question Number 4: Total appointments across a completed pathway: During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, how many completed routine adult audiology pathways fell into each of the following attendance bands? a) 3 or fewer outpatient audiology appointments b) 4 outpatient audiology appointments c) 5 outpatient audiology appointments d) 6 outpatient audiology appointments e) 7 or more outpatient audiology appointments For this question, attendances should be counted as the total number of outpatient audiology appointments delivered across the entire pathway, not per year. A pathway should be treated as completed where it ended through discharge or through a clinical review that triggered a new hearing assessment. | |
| Answer To Question 4: See response to Q2. | |
| Question Number 5: Audiology activity volumes: During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, please state the number of: a) Adult hearing assessments b) Hearing aid fitting appointments | |
| Answer To Question 5: See response to Q2. | |
| Question Number 6: Hearing aid fittings by patient type: During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, how many hearing aid fitting appointments were delivered: a) For NEW patients starting their first NHS hearing aid pathway with the Trust? b) For EXISTING patients starting a fresh NHS hearing aid pathway following clinical reassessment? If the Trust does not distinguish between these categories, please state this explicitly. | |
| Answer To Question 6: See response to Q2. | |
| Question Number 7: Average time to hearing aid refitting following reassessment: During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, among EXISTING patients who were provided with new NHS hearing aids following clinical reassessment, what was the average time elapsed (expressed in years to one decimal point 鈥� e.g. 4.6), between the date of the original hearing aid fitting and the date of hearing aid refitting? If this information is not held, please state this explicitly. For the purposes of this question, a hearing aid refit means the provision of new NHS hearing aids at the start of a fresh routine adult audiology pathway following clinical reassessment. It excludes repair, maintenance, reprogramming, or like for like replacement within an existing pathway. | |
| Answer To Question 7: See response to Q2. | |
| Question Number 8: Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU): a) Is PIFU used at any stage within the Trust鈥檚 routine adult audiology service? b) If PIFU is used, is activity generated through PIFU recorded as outpatient audiology activity within Trust systems? c) If PIFU is used, is PIFU related activity included within any activity planning or activity management arrangements that apply to routine adult audiology services? For the purposes of this question, Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) means a model where patients are invited to contact the service to request follow-up or aftercare, rather than being routinely recalled. | |
| Answer To Question 8: 8a: Yes 8b: Yes 8c: No | |
| Question Number 9: Adults holding NHS hearing aids: How many active adult audiology patients under the Trust鈥檚 care are currently recorded as holding NHS issued hearing aids? For the purposes of this question, treat an active adult audiology patient as someone who has had at one or more NHS audiology appointments within the last four years. | |
| Answer To Question 9: See response to Q2. | |
| Question Number 10: Waiting times and patient backlogs: a) What is the current average waiting time, expressed in weeks, from receipt of referral to routine adult audiology assessment (refer-to-assess)? b) What is the current average waiting time, expressed in weeks, from audiology assessment to hearing aid fitting (assess-to-fit)? c) How many patients are currently waiting for an initial routine adult audiology assessment? d) How many patients are currently waiting for a hearing aid fitting appointment following assessment? | |
| Answer To Question 10: See response to Q2. | |
| Question Number 11: Funding and payment arrangements for routine adult audiology services: a) What funding or payment model is used by the Trust for routine adult audiology services? Please state which of the following applies: 鈥� Block contract 鈥� Activity based payment 鈥� National tariff 鈥� Locally agreed tariff 鈥� Other funding model (please specify) b) Where payment is activity based or tariff based, please state: 鈥� The defined unit(s) of payment used (for example: assessment, hearing aid fitting, outpatient attendance etc) 鈥� The payment amount applied to each unit c) Where a block contract or other fixed funding arrangement applies, please state the total funding amount (monthly and/or annual) and confirm whether this funding is linked to an assumed or planned level of activity. | |
| Answer To Question 11: a) It鈥檚 an activity-based payment. b) & c) The activity is split across a number of HRGs. Price per unit of activity (拢) AUDIO5 - 840 Audiology - First/Follow-up 70.51 AUDIOAFT - Hearing Aid Aftercare 34.19 AUDIOASMT - Hearing Aid Assessment 70.51 AUDIOFIT1 - Hearing Aid Fit one aid 287.71 AUDIOFIT2 - Hearing Aid Fit two aids 424.21 AUDIOP1 - Paediatric Audiology First Attendance 70.51 AUDIOP2 - Paediatric Audiology Follow-up Attendance 70.51 c) Block value 拢202K. | |
| Question Number 12: Planned activity and volume controls: a) During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, was routine adult audiology activity subject to any planned activity schedule or formal activity management process? b) If Yes, what activity units were planned or managed (for example: assessments, outpatient attendances, hearing aid fittings, follow up appointments, aftercare appointments)? c) If activity was planned or managed, what was the planned annual volume for each activity unit during that period? d) If activity was planned or managed, what was the actual annual volume utilised for each activity unit during that period? | |
| Answer To Question 12: 12a: Yes 12b: 1st Outpatient appointment (1st OP) and Follow up Outpatient appointment (FU) 12c: For the year 25/26 1st OP Plan 10,291 FU Plan 3,861 12d: 1st OP Actuals 10,612 FU Plan Actuals 4,449 | |
| Question Number 13: Earwax removal within hospital audiology: a) Do routine adult audiology services provided by the Trust include earwax removal? b) During the most recent complete 12 month period for which information is held, how many routine adult audiology patients were seen and how many of these received earwax removal? | |
| Answer To Question 13: 13a: No 13b: N/A | |
| Please see Attachments: | |
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