Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that self-referral to community audiology services is widely available across England.

Community audiology services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs). The priorities and operational planning guidance states that systems are expected to put in place self-referral routes to community audiology services.

To raise awareness of self-referral to audiology services, NHS England is adding information on the relevant condition specific pages on the NHS.UK website. ICBs are responsible for ensuring that patients have the information they need to make decisions about their care, including if they have the option to self-refer to locally commissioned services.