I’m writing in response to the letter regarding our hearing clinics (‘Assisting in the demise of our NHS’, Opinion, August 6).
On behalf of Age UK I would like to reassure E D Ellis, as well as your readers and local residents, that the hearing clinics run in partnership between Age UK Enfield and Age UK Hearing Aids always signposts people to the NHS when appropriate. Age UK Hearing Aids aim to find the best solution for every patient; advising on all the choices available and making the patient aware of all their options – whether it’s the NHS and its important service for a free hearing aid or a bespoke option tailored to personal needs.
The partnership between Age UK and UK Hearing Aids is a commercial one, which has been established to encourage older people to seek help with hearing problems. However, all profits are gift aided back to help fund our charitable activity.
About 6.4 million people aged 65 and over have some form of hearing loss and around 685,000 of these have severe/profound hearing loss. We recognise that hearing clearly can have a dramatic impact on our quality of life and, therefore, seek not to compete with local NHS services, but to provide choice and widen the opportunity for older people looking for hearing care.
Hugh Forde
Managing director of retail, trading and training at Age UK
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