Mr. Brendan Lennon:

In the short to medium term, we think a mixed model would be the most effective in reducing the waiting lists and supporting more people to get hearing aids in a timely fashion because we will not be able to gear up the public service in a matter of a year to 18 months to do that. In the UK, where virtually everybody has an entitlement to public health and audiology services through the NHS, 30% of the provision for NHS patients is delivered by private providers but it is done according to standards set by the NHS and according to protocols and procedures there. The individual has a choice of whether to go to a private provider or to the NHS itself. If I was living in Clifden, for example, and needed to see an audiologist and had a medical card, I would need to travel to Galway. If I had the choice to go to the HSE or a local provider, I would only have to go down the road. Many of these people are in their 70s and 80s, do not have public transport and so on. We believe that it should be mixed in the short to medium term and we are agnostic about the whole thing in the main. What we are interested in is that this health opportunity is grasped and that there is a clear plan and policy in place, which there is not, for the full population and not just for the 30% in the HSE. Probably the best way to do that in the short and medium term is a mix.

May we say a little about the procurement roadblock we have spoken about? Last year, the Minister told us there was money there to address waiting lists. We knew the HSE was setting up a framework to address waiting lists in audiology. This framework would include a two-stage process. In phase 1, a panel of approved providers with appropriate qualifications, facilities, etc. would be created and in phase 2, local managers in regional health organisations could tender for services to address their waiting lists locally. We think that is a good plan. We thought it would have begun to roll out in 2023. We expected phase 1, to set up the panel, would roll out in the first quarter of 2024. Now we understand that because no funding is earmarked for addressing waiting lists in 2024, that the procurement division in the HSE has stalled and it will not move forward until there is funding in place. We believe that is something that the Minister and his Department need to resolve sooner rather than later. Otherwise the issue of the waiting lists, which has been interminable, will continue.