A lifeline hearing loss service with 600 Angus users has been saved – just days before its impending closure.
Action on Hearing Loss Scotland “painstakingly” pieced together cash from trusts and donations to keep its community-based Angus Hear to Help service going until September.
The service has been surviving on a hand-to-mouth existence during 2017 after being launched with two years of Scottish Government ‘pump prime’ funding.
The funding was to be picked up locally following the conclusion of the ‘pump prime’ cash, but that didn’t materialise.
The charity approached Angus Health and Social Care Partnership’s Integration Joint Board but was advised in late March that a request for funding could not be supported as their resources are currently fully committed.
Action on Hearing Loss Scotland is generating enough funds every three months to keep Hear to Help running, but need £17,000 to secure the service for a full year.
Service user Colvina McBay said: “I depend a lot on my hearing aids and I feel cut off when they’re not working properly – especially as I’d struggle to follow conversations or hear the traffic when I’m using my mobility scooter.
“Hear to Help is a great local service, which I hope is funded to keep running as I’d be devastated if it wasn’t available.”
Hear to Help volunteers are trained by NHS Tayside audiology to clean, re-tube and adjust hearing aids so that they work more effectively.
The service also provides information about a range of assistance equipment such as amplified phones, TV listeners and vibrating alarms, which can make everyday life easier for people with hearing loss.
North East Scotland Conservative MSP is calling for sustainable funding to be provided for the much-loved service following a visit to the Hear to Help drop-in session in Whitehills Health and Community Care Centre in Forfar.
Mr Kerr said: “Whilst I am relieved to hear that this vital service is presently able to continue, the charity should not have to scramble around for funding in this way.
“I have written to the chair of the Angus Health and Social Care Partnership urging a rethink of its decision not to provide financial support.
“The number of people using the service clearly demonstrates that it is needed, while it is also saving the NHS money by cutting down on travel to hospitals for appointments for basic hearing aid support.”
Derek Clark, Hear to Help coordinator, said: “Our service users and volunteers are hugely relieved that sufficient funds have been generated to keep Hear to Help running in Angus for another three months, up to the end of September.
“We greatly appreciate Liam Kerr MSP’s recognition of the many positive impacts which Hear to Help delivers – not only in terms of supporting mostly older people with hearing loss in their homes or easy to reach community venues – but also the significant savings for the public purse illustrated by independent cost benefit analysis of our service.”
