Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland

Driver for the Independent Review

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care commissioned the Review because of failings identified in standards of care provided in the NHS Lothian paediatric audiology service. NHS Lothian Health Board commissioned the BAA review after the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman upheld a complaint by parents against the paediatric audiology service (6). This independent audit and governance review by the BAA identified a range of failures over a prolonged period caused by “a lack of scientific leadership, knowledge, reflection and enquiry in the presence of a lack of routine and robust quality assurance processes”.

Detailed scrutiny of the paediatric audiology caseload from 2009–2021 identified 155 children (15.7% of cases audited) as having “significant failures” in their care. The report made 36 recommendations to improve the paediatric audiology service in Lothian. The Health Board was placed at level 3 of the NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework.^[1] As a result, NHS Lothian produced a consolidated action plan with clear timescales for implementation.

This National Audiology Review Group was tasked with making recommendations to improve both adult and paediatric audiology services in Scotland. Essentially, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care was seeking assurance that the failings identified in Lothian were due to a unique set of circumstances and that similar issues were not prevalent across Health Boards in Scotland.