What the average waiting time has been to receive a hearing aid over the last 12 months, broken down by NHS board.

Audiology Services have being included in the Scottish Government’s challenging target that no patient should wait more than 18 weeks from a GP referral to start of treatment. This target is due for delivery by the end of 2011.
Information on Audiology services is collected on a aggregated form. Consequently, it is not possible to provide the information requested. However, information on the median wait from assessment to fitting of a hearing aid in each quarter from April 2010 to 31 March 2011, by NHS board is provided in the following table.
Nationally collected waiting times information for Audiology services is relatively new data and is currently still under development. As information collection system are fairly new there are data quality issues around this information and figures should be treated with caution. ISD are working with NHS Boards to improve data quality.
MEDIAN WAITING TIME FROM ASSESSMENT TO FITTING OF HEARING AID IN EACH QUARTER OF 2010-11
NHS Board
April-June
(Weeks)
July
- Sept
(Weeks)
Oct – Dec
(Weeks)
Dec – Mar
(Weeks)
Ayrshire & Arran
x
x
x
x
Bordersf
6
5
5
5
Dumfries & Galloway
12
6
6
01
Fifef
01
7
9
8
Forth Valley
x
1
01
01
Grampian
8
9
9
8
Greater Glasgow & Clydea
5
5
5
5
Highlandb
6
6
5
7
Lanarkshirec
2
4
4
3
Lothian
x
x
17
16
Orkney
3
3
3
3
Shetland
4
7
8
7
Taysided f
6
5
4
6
Western Islese
x
0e
0e
0e
Source: ISD Scotland
x Data not available
1 Median waits of less than a week.
aClyde data not available for July to December 2010.
bData cleansing ongoing, please treat with caution
cData cleansing is ongoing, please treat with caution. Adult figures not available for the months April and May 2010.
dPaediatric figures not available for the month of April 2011.
eProvides Audiology services for adults only – no patients had hearing aid fitted during July 2010 – 2011.
fSince 1 January some Boards have submitted waiting times for one-stop clinics separately from the normal audiology stage of treatment waiting time returns. Other NHS Boards report one stop patients in the ‘first assessment’ or assessment to treatment stages.