Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent on audiology services (a) nationally and (b) by each clinical commissioning group in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
The information requested on the number of people supplied with National Health Services-funded hearing aids is not collated centrally.
The requested information for spend on audiology services by each clinical commissioning group (CCG) is not collected centrally.
Data on national spend is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table.
Total spend on audiology services in £ million
| 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
Admitted Patient Care | 25.8 | 124.5 | 161.8 | 163.5 | 152.5 |
Outpatient Attendances | 21.2 | 30.8 | 24.2 | 32.0 | 36.5 |
Community Health Services | 208.5 | 172.9 | 193.5 | 201.0 | 196.2 |
Total | 255.5 | 328.2 | 379.5 | 396.5 | 385.2 |
Source: https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/reference-costs/
The information requested on projected spend on audiology services is not collected centrally.
CCGs are responsible for commissioning audiology services. The Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss framework will help CCGs to deliver on their responsibility to commission high quality, responsive hearing services by establishing what good commissioning looks like.