Is the UK Facing a Wax Management Crisis?

In episode 1 of this mini-series, Julia is joined by Frankie Oliver, Audiology Advisor at RNID to talk in more detail about their brand-new report from the national RNID charity (Royal National Institute For Deaf People) which outlines that people’s hearing health is at risk due to the axing of wax services in UK primary care provisions.

Not only do these changes to primary care provisions potentially put people’s health at risk, but Covid has also had a real knock-on effect for wax management across the board - and the Audiology industry is now desperately trying to play catch up.

Please find full episode transcript below.

Head to the RNID website to find out more about the report here.

Find out about their ear wax removal campaign here.

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Julia: Hello and welcome back to Sounding It Out, a podcast dedicated to audiology and hearing health, brought to you by Signa UK and Ireland. I'm Julia van Huyssteen, your host, and I'm delighted to be back with four new episodes. I'm the head of audiology at Signa UK and Ireland and hearing health is something I am passionate about.

These podcasts are Signia neutral so that everybody with an interest in hearing health or audiology can benefit. If you're just discovering this series, we've already talked to legendary audiologist, Dr. Gus Mueller about hearing aid fitting standards. You can go back and download those previous episodes for free wherever you get your podcasts from and remember to follow so you don't miss any future episodes.

In this mini-series, we are discussing the wax management crisis we are facing here in the UK. It coincides with a brand new report from the RNID or Royal National Institute for Deaf People that was published in December 2022 and this report warns that people's hearing health is at risk due to the axing of wax services.

For background, the situation started to deteriorate in 2019 when the British Medical Association decided it would no longer be considered part of the core services GPs were obliged to provide. Data from 2020 shows that as many as 60% of patients that started direct audiology treatment did not complete their pathways.

And of course, Covid had a real knock on effect for wax management and as an industry we are desperately trying to play catch up. Accessing ear wax management through the NHS is also a postcode lottery and many individuals are accessing private wax removal at a cost. Some people told RNID they were quoted up to £400 for private removal.

Many people shared their experiences with RNID including Paul Clark. He lost his hearing through meningitis when he was a child. He used to get ear wax professionally removed but the service was stopped during the pandemic. These are his words voiced by someone else.

[00:02:24] Paul Clark:  I lost my balance and fell.