Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to include a hearing check as part of the NHS Health Check to help identify mid-life hearing loss.

The NHS Health Check’s Expert Scientific and Clinical Advisory Panel considered proposals to include a hearing check as part of the programme in 2019 and 2021. The proposals were not supported by the panel, in line with the UK National Screening Committee which has recommended against screening for adult hearing loss. For these reasons, there are no current plans to include a hearing check as part of the NHS Health Check.

The Department is carefully considering options to improve the impact of the NHS Health Check programme, and this work is ongoing.