Annual Report of the Dudley Children's Hearing Services Working Group
September 2008
Introduction
The Dudley Children's Hearing Services Working Group has continued to meet three times a year to work to improve the practice and service we provide to hearing impaired children and young people. It has been encouraging to see representation from Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) which hitherto has been absent. In between these meetings working groups focussing on the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHS-P), Hearing Aids and Transition have met. The working groups that focussed upon Family Support and Sharing Information were suspended since these areas cut across all of the other focus groups and in the case of the Sharing Information group, the work was completed by the publication of a Sharing Information Protocol produced jointly by Children's Services and the NHS Trusts.
In order to ensure that all families had the opportunity to have their say a Family Consultation Evening was held in June facilitated by Angela Edwards, Regional Family Representative for the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS).
Strategically, the CHSWG reports to the SEN Group which in turn reports to the Dudley Children and Young People's Partnership.
Summary of the Work of the Working Groups 2007 - 2008
All of the CHSWG working groups have met this year.
NHS-P
Chair: Rachel Byng
The NHSP sub group met on the 14th May 2008 and on 17th September 2008 following the last CHSWG meeting in March 2008.
Discussions have mainly been around the next Quality Audit visit 23rd October 2008 and issues regarding both the action plan from the May 2007 visit and other issues we have identified.
The Quality Audit report: all key challenges and recommendations have been reviewed and issues that related to any changes have been discussed and actioned as necessary. Those actions that had been in place earlier on in the year have been revisited and any other recommendations by the sub group have been identified.
See Progress report on Action points.
Dudley NHSP team audits: an audit has taken place to assess the timings of tests carried out and the referral paper trail compared to the timeline protocol. Other audits on screening data have also been conducted throughout the year.
Several information leaflets have been produced to inform parents of the next stages of testing. These are still to be ratified by appropriate groups.
A meeting of the relevant NHSP team members met to discuss the final stages of the NHSP pathway leading to diagnostic testing and diagnosis and the review of relevant local protocols.
The sub group had identified potential issues on the movement of babies requiring care in the NICU when unit is full. These concerns re tracking these babies for all screening procedures (including hearing) were taken to the Matron in charge and they have been discussed with the Paediatrician and actions has been carried out to prevent there being any risk.
Hearing Aids
Chair: Beryl Rayner
The Hearing Aid Wearers' Group has four parent representatives who meet with Beryl Rayner (Teacher of the Deaf) and staff from Cottage Street Hearing Centre. Two other parents have shown interest in the group and it is hoped they will be able to meet with us during the next academic year. In November 07, Beryl took over the chair of the group from Rachel Byng, Manager of Hearing Services. It is intended to invite staff from the Social Care Hearing Impaired Team to join the group as there are connections for hearing aids and equipment, which Social Care, may be able to help parents purchase.
Last academic year, the group met in November 07, February 08 and initiated a workshop for parents in April 08.
The group continued to discuss the Children's Services Booklet, which has been drafted by Cottage Street Hearing Centre and we look forward to reading the final draft.
The group has also been consulted on draft leaflets for the Hearing Impairment Service, which are given to schools and parents.
In April 08, 11 parents accepted an invitation to attend a workshop at Ashwood Park School, "Caring for Your Child's Hearing Aids". This workshop had been prompted by discussion from the group and was led by Rachel Byng and Tina Harris from Cottage Street Hearing Centre. Rachel began by describing the anatomy of the ear and how a hearing aid works. Tina then explained how to check hearing aids, moulds and tubing. Parents were able to have a go at re-tubing a mould. Each parent was given a Hearing Aid Maintenance Kit, which contains earphones for listening to an aid, a mould drier, and mould tubing. It also contains an excellent booklet on the care of aids. These kits have been bought by the Dudley Deaf Children's Society to support parents.
Parents voted the workshop a great success and Mrs. Sparry wrote a report for the Dudley Deaf Children's Society Newsletter. The workshop, like the group meetings, was also a valuable opportunity for parents to share tips and experiences about the use of hearing aids.
A second workshop/meeting is currently being planned for November 2008 at Cottage Street Hearing Centre. Parents and their Year 11 children, will be invited to a meeting, 5.30 to 7.30 to discuss the changes in service provision when children leave school. It is intended that representatives from Cottage Street Hearing Centre, The Hearing Impairment Service and Social Care Hearing Impaired Team, will explain to parents any changes and how children can be helped to take a more active role in the management of their hearing aids and relevant equipment.
Transition
Chair: Alice Lumley
The Transition Group was relaunched this year and met twice on 29th January and 8th April 2008 with representatives from Speech and Language Therapy, Audiology, Education, Connexions, Stourbridge and Halesowen Colleges and two parents of key stage 4 students. The first meeting concentrated on clarifying the remit of the group and to discuss the work carried out previously on a Transition Pack and to look at the transition booklets 'Big Picture' and 'Forward'. The meeting agreed that copies of these booklets should go to students on school action plus aswell as those with statements.
Transition plans for students leaving school and entering further education were discussed. These are the college starting point for an assessment of need. It was agreed that all Year 11 students would been seen at Cottage Street in January or February so that up to date audiological information may be included in the transition plan.
Representation from the colleges has provided useful links with Stourbridge College taking up the suggestion of having 'Language for Learning' training and Dudley College setting up a Service Level Agreement with the Hearing Impairment Service to provide specialist equipment and support for a deaf student.
It is hoped that a visit to Dudley College for Year 10 and 11 students will take place during the autumn term to look around the college and also to take the opportunity to gauge student opinions and views.
Family Consultation Evening
The Family Consultation Evening was held at the Merryhill Centre Customer Services Suite in June. Invitations were extended to all families of children on the Hearing Impairment Service caseload. Three families attended. The meeting was facilitated by Angela Edwards from the NDCS so that families could speak freely about the services offered in Dudley.
The overall impression of the services offered was very favourable. Comments regarding the various services were as follows;
CHSWG
What are they?
How do we feed into it?
Education
Teaching and HI staff excellent – always answer questions
Teachers of the Deaf very accessible – home phone numbers
Concerns over secondary transfer – meeting to discuss?
Would like a named contact when child is in HI unit
Teachers of the Deaf supportive
Would like more checks on class teaching staff to make sure they follow advice
Help and support limited for those without hearing aids
Cochlear Implant Centres
Social Care
Speech and Language Therapy
ENT – Russells Hall
ENT Consultant excellent. TOD went into school. Services very supportive at diagnosis
Children's ward fantastic – child friendly – own nurse for contact
Very good but waiting area small and long waiting times
ENT – Out of district
Audiology
Parents working – taking time off is difficult. Could they have more family friendly hours
Cottage Street – good turn around for earmoulds
Out of school appointments – 'I had nine appointments all early afternoon'
Perhaps one late night per week or a Saturday morning
Wax removal
Spirit 3 hearing aids – would like interchangeable casing. Perhaps pink one day, flesh the next
Concluding Remarks
This has been a productive year for the CHSWG and much work has been undertaken in preparation for the next Quality Assurance visit in October. However if service improvement is to continue it is essential that we have the sustained involvement of all stakeholders. If service improvement is to continue developing, it is essential that we have the sustained involvement of all stakeholders. We would welcome increased parent/carer participation and need to ensure that all parents/carers are fully informed about CHSWG and its work.
Areas for development 2008 – 2009
