Members area

Loading...

Register

Don't have a login?

Join us

Become a member

  • Connect with others through events, workshops, campaigns and our NEW online forum, Your Community
  • Discover information and insights in our resource hub and receive the latest updates via email
  • Access one-to-one support and tailored services which help reduce barriers for deaf children
Donate
Open Search popup
Menu Open mobile desktop menu

Listen Up 2024

Our Listen Up report gives an overview of children’s hearing services in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales based on surveys sent to paediatric audiology services in Winter 2023.

The information we gather from this research allows us to monitor the support available to deaf children and young people, produce evidence to influence policy debates and provide a tool for audiology professionals to use to benchmark their own services.

Since 2017, Listen Up has reported on children's hearing services in England, but this year the findings from our surveys cover England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

We plan to use the most recent reports for discussions with politicians, policy makers and stakeholders in healthcare, by providing up-to-date evidence about paediatric audiology service provision across the UK.

Download the reports

These reports present the findings of the four surveys we carried out in 2023.

Key findings

Findings reveal that services continue to be stretched, with long waiting times and staff shortages across the UK.

Services across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales reported:

  • A lack of paediatric audiologists, difficulties with recruiting and retaining staff, and vacant posts. Services are struggling to train new staff and are worried about a lack of capacity to meet the growing demand for services.

  • Excessive waiting times, which may lead to delays in the identification and management of deafness in children.

We found that caseloads of deaf children vary significantly between services. Some services have very small caseloads, which could lead to a lack of experience and expertise in identifying and managing deafness in children.

  • Accessibility for deaf people is poor, with only 27% of services offering British Sign Language as an option for contacting the service, and less than half of audiology services reporting any deaf awareness training for staff.

  • Quality assurance is not well embedded in most audiology services. Only 23% of services self-reported having Improving Quality in Physiological Services accreditation, and there are variable approaches to quality assurance.

  • There are regional variations in service provision, particularly in the assessment of children with complex needs and in the management of temporary deafness.

Quality assurance is not well embedded in most audiology services and data may not be routinely reported for many aspects of service provision. Of particular concern is the lack of recommended external Auditory Brainstem Response peer review in 60% of services.

The proportion of children with permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI), reported to have been identified immediately following newborn hearing screening (44%) out of all newly identified children with PCHI, is significantly lower compared with Northern Ireland (56%) and England (51%).

The proportion of children with permanent childhood hearing impairment reported to have been identified immediately following newborn hearing screening as part of the Newborn Hearing Screening Wales programme (23%).

This is significantly lower compared with Scotland (44%), Northern Ireland (56%) and England (51%).

The opportunity to identify deafness early in life is being missed for a significant proportion of deaf children.

 

Download previous reports (England only)

The findings for the Listen Up 2023 are available in the 2024 report.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we did not request information from NHS Trusts in 2020 and 2021.

If you have any questions about our Listen Up reports, please email us at [email protected]