Clinical

Exploring the feasibility of providing hearing screenings by a community learning disability health promotion team

Why you should read this article:

To recognise how the identification of hearing loss in people with learning disabilities could be improved

To learn about a service improvement initiative that explored the provision of objective hearing screens for people with learning disabilities

To understand the role of learning disability health promotion teams in supporting access to hearing screens

 

There is a relatively high incidence of hearing loss in people with learning disabilities, but there are concerns that the annual health check this population receives may be ineffective in identifying hearing loss in them. A service improvement initiative was undertaken to explore the feasibility of providing community-based objective hearing screens for people with learning disabilities and to determine whether the annual health check, which involves a subjective hearing assessment, is effective in identifying hearing loss. The initiative was conducted in two phases. This article describes phase two, which examined the feasibility of using support workers from a community learning disability health promotion team (LDHPT) to provide hearing screens. The results were compared with those of phase one, which involved audiologists undertaking the hearing screens. Overall, the results of the service improvement initiative suggest that objective hearing screens should be provided for people with learning disabilities. In addition, the involvement of the LDHPT can improve service users’ access to audiology diagnostic services, therefore reducing the healthcare inequities experienced by this group.

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Exploring the feasibility of providing hearing screenings by a community learning disability health promotion team

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