Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS England’s processes for (a) identifying and (b) responding to concerns about the (i) quality and (ii) accuracy of children’s hearing test services; and what steps his Department is taking to improve the (A) consistency and (B) reliability of children’s hearing tests.

In December 2021, a report was published into service issues in children’s hearing services in NHS Lothian. The report focused on whether children’s hearing tests were being conducted properly and were effectively followed up. Further problems with the diagnosis of hearing issues in newborns and children were identified in other Scottish NHS trusts in 2023.

Subsequent assessment of NHS hearing services in children’s departments across England in 2023 and 2024 identified similar problems. In 2023, NHS England established the Paediatric Hearing Services Improvement Programme to address the issues and oversee remedial action.

In April 2025, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, appointed Dr Camilla Kingdon to chair an independent review into children’s hearing services. The review has considered:

• NHS England’s response to the service failures in children’s hearing services;
• how the relevant governance arrangements between the Department and NHS England could be improved, and identify lessons learned; and
• how NHS England’s handling of any future service failures in similar services could be improved, and identify lessons learned.

The Department is currently considering next steps and how to ensure lessons learned can be acted upon promptly, including whether steps need to be taken to improve both the consistency and reliability of children’s hearing tests.

NHS England is supporting provider organisations and integrated care boards who are the commissioners of audiology services to improve performance and reduce waiting lists for appointments and assessments for hearing services. This includes capital investment to upgrade audiology facilities in NHS trusts, expanding audiology testing capacity via community diagnostic centres, and directing support through a national audiology improvement collaborative.