Audiology: Community Health Services
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to expand access to community-based NHS hearing health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local population, and this includes community-based hearing services.
The Medium-Term Planning Framework sets a clear target for systems to work to in order to reduce long waits for community health services, and this includes community audiology services. By 2028/29, at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks. In addition, Standardising Community Health Services sets out an overview of core community health services that ICBs should consider when planning for their local populations to support improved commissioning and delivery of community health services, including community-based hearing services.
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