Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that NHS Integrated Care Boards provide community-based ear wax removal services.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local population. This includes the arrangement of ear wax removal services.

Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection, so general practitioners (GPs) will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up.

However, in line with the NICE’s guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A GP could then consider referring the patient into audiology services, which ICBs are responsible for commissioning.