Deaf people urge HSE to reinstate audiology services in southeast

PEOPLE SUFFERING from deafness and other hearing impairments have urged the Health Service Executive to re-establish audiology services in the southeast, which have been suspended due to a lack of funding.

One of those affected is Donnchadh Keating, a 15-year-old Waterford boy who attends St Joseph's School for the Deaf in Dublin.

His mother, Stephanie Keating, says his linguistic ability is deteriorating and he is becoming increasingly frustrated and depressed because he has been refused a new hearing aid.

He is one of hundreds of people with hearing impairments in the southeast who have been told by the HSE that they cannot have a new hearing aid because the 2008 audiology budget in the region has been exhausted.

Ms Keating said Donnchadh was moderately to severely deaf and needed two working hearing aids for school. His school had written to her stipulating this.

He had two digital aids since September last, neither of which has worked properly, she says. He lost one in the past months. Given his impending return to school, his need for two aids and the fact that the one he has doesn't work, she set about "really tackling it" in the past few months.

"I have been trying to get him an appointment with an audiologist and have not been able to get one. Then about three weeks ago, the audiologist rang me and he said there was no point bringing Donnchadh in because he wouldn't be able to get him a hearing aid."

The main impact is that he is not comfortable communicating on a daily basis.

"I think his language is dropping and a lot of the time, he can't understand what is going on. He's a fantastic lip-reader, but his frustration is just building. He is now doing his Junior Cert. He's extremely bright, but now we're looking at him having to do ordinary level in the exams because he can't follow exactly what's going on in class."

In Kilkenny city, Pat Feehan, in his mid-50s, was told on Tuesday that he would not be getting a replacement hearing aid for the one that broke four weeks ago.

Mr Feehan, who is completely deaf in his left ear and must strain with his right to pick up sound, said he had sent it to be repaired. When he got it back in the post last week it was "smashed to bits. It must have got smashed in the post."

He went to his audiology clinic, was told by the receptionist to come back for a fitting for a new aid. However, when he arrived earlier this week, the audiologist said there was nothing he could do.

"He said there was no money for hearing aids and gave me a complaint form to send off to the HSE. I left there very down. I miss the hearing aid because when I'm sitting in a room with people I can't hear what's going on. The audiologist said he might get me one in a few months."

He says were it not for his wife, Maria, he would have very little conversation. "It makes me very, very angry. I pity anyone living on their own, or children."

Ms Keating says she is "very annoyed" at the geographical aspect.

"If we lived in Galway or Dublin, Donnchadh would get his hearing aid. It's just because we're in the southeast."

A spokesman for the HSE southeast confirmed there were delays "as regards patients on the routine waiting lists for hearing aids".

"The HSE is working to address this issue within its resources. However, in the case of urgent or emergency referrals, hearing aids are being provided," he said.