If Age UK does what is best for each person as Mr Forde claims (‘Age UK does what is best for each person’, Opinion, August 20), perhaps he can tell us how many people attended his week-long hearing advice clinic in Enfield and how many of them were signposted to the NHS.

Mr Forde’s brand of soft soap that Age UK aims to find the best solution for every patient and advises on all the choices available doesn’t match his own advertising, which makes no mention of the free NHS alternative and sells ‘Age UK – your first choice for hearing solutions’.

The price of their hearing aids is never mentioned. Age UK merely offers ‘clearer hearing at a price you can afford’ and ‘up to 50 per cent less than high street prices’.

Our forum cannot understand why Age UK Enfield is currently seeking to persuade older people to spend hard-earned money buying a hearing aid from a private, for profit, American-backed company, which cannot possibly offer the continuous aftercare service provided by Chase Farm Hospital’s audiology department.

I would have thought that if Age UK was so attached to the NHS it would have at least sought to be recognised and applied for a ‘qualified provider’ status as other private sector companies have done.

Mr Forde also asks us to believe that all profits are gift aided back to help fund our charitable activity. This sounds so altruistic, ethical and principled.

But does it mean that the company called UK Hearing Care Management Services Ltd formed in January 2013 with capital of just £1, solely to promote and sell hearing aids using the well-respected Age UK brand name, will not be remitting any profits to its financial backers, Starkey Laboratories, based in Minnesota, USA?

We question whether their aftercare service compares with the NHS, supplying the most modern digital hearing aids available free following referral from your GP and a thorough screening test at Chase Farm Hospital, which services more than 25,000 patients and has done so since the inception of the NHS in 1948?

The Chase Farm audiology service also has two hearing therapists who deal with different aspects of hearing balance and tinnitus problems. They work closely with Enfield’s social services and can supply environmental equipment for televisions/phones/doorbells etc – a service Age UK hearing aids cannot possibly match – and should not be trying to.

Monty Meth

President, Enfield Over 50s Forum