Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will advise the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to prioritise the Quality Standard on hearing loss (adult onset), in the light of proposals from North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group to decommission hearing aids for patients with mild to moderate adult onset hearing loss.
Hearing loss (adult onset) is included as a topic in the library of quality standards referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in March 2012. NICE has also been asked to develop a clinical guideline on hearing loss that will provide the underpinning evidence base for the quality standard.
NHS England is now responsible for commissioning quality standards and clinical guidelines relating to NHS Services from NICE and is responsible for liaising with NICE about the prioritisation of topics relating to NHS services.