{"id":459293,"date":"2026-03-05T18:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459293\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:07:16","slug":"scots-wait-years-for-audiology-test-as-dementia-risk-flagged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459293\/","title":{"rendered":"Scots wait years for audiology test as dementia risk flagged"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Long waits and delays for hearing tests have repeatedly been proven to increase the chances of conditions like dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s<\/a>, while also posing social barriers and loneliness for vulnerable adults.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Herald has obtained figures through freedom of information (FOI) requests showing that a patient in Ayrshire and Arran waited nearly three years for an audiology assessment following a GP referral in 2025.\n<\/p>\n

\n The average wait was 42 weeks.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Scottish Government\u2019s target from GP referral is 18 weeks.\n<\/p>\n

\n Figures vary across the country and two of 12 NHS boards \u2013 Highland and Shetland<\/a> – did not respond to the request for comment.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\n<\/p>\n

\n Across Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the longest wait was 130 weeks \u2013 two years and six months.\n<\/p>\n

\n NHS Grampian\u2019s longest wait was 114 weeks, two years and two months.\n<\/p>\n

\n NHS Orkney<\/a> had the lowest waits, with the longest wait experienced by a patient just eight weeks, while three weeks was the average for an adult assessment.\n<\/p>\n

\n Fife was the only other health board where he longest wait fell under one year \u2013 50 weeks.\n<\/p>\n

\n In 2023, an\u00a0independent review of audiology services<\/a>\u00a0in Scotland identified \u201cmultiple systemic problems\u201d in\u00a0NHS Scotland<\/a>\u2019s hearing services.\n<\/p>\n

\n More than 50 recommendations were made but just 23 had been completed by December 2024, 15 had been transitioned into operational work plans and 17 were \u201crealigned\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Katherine Crawford, chief executive of Age Scotland, told The Herald: \u201cThese long waits for audiology services are unacceptable and deeply worrying for older people.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cEarly diagnosis of hearing issues and access to equipment like hearing aids are life-changing, helping older people to stay connected to family, friends and their communities.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThose stuck on waiting lists often experience deterioration to their quality of life, triggering increased loneliness and safety, while also increasing dementia risk.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s vital that long waiting times are addressed and part of finding a solution may be exploring new ways of delivering services, including high street and community-based options, but these must remain accessible, safe and free at the point of access.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhat matters most is that older people can access timely, high-quality care without unnecessary barriers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\n<\/p>\n

\n The risks from delayed audiology support is worsened for people with visual impairments, according to the DeafBlind Scotland\u2019s chief executive Isabella Goldie.\n<\/p>\n

\n She said the necessary progress required two years on from the independent audiology review had not been achieved.\n<\/p>\n

\n She told The Herald: \u201cThere are still very lengthy waits and for someone newly accessing these services who will also have a visual impairment there are current waits of many months and in some cases two to three years.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe know that hearing loss is one of the modifiable factors in reducing cognitive decline and the Deafblind people that we support, many of whom are older, already have the stressful experience of waiting in \u2018two separate queues\u2019 for their sight loss and hearing loss services.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Ms Goldie said audiology services should be a \u201cprioritisation\u201d for the Scottish Government.\n<\/p>\n

\n There are calls for the Scottish Government to reform the GP referral process by making the service available on the high street, similar to that of eye tests.\n<\/p>\n

\n Wendy Chamberlain MP, the deputy leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats<\/a>, said: \u201cThese long waits are hugely worrying. If your hearing is going and you need a hearing aid, you don\u2019t want to have to wait a year for care.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cTo reduce pressure of GPs and help bring down waiting times, the NHS should be exploring whether high street operators could provide some of these services much the same way that they can carry out eye tests.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhere there are major delays and the private sector has the capacity and skills, we should be making the most of that, while ensuring that there is no cost to patients at the point of use.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n In January, The Herald revealed waiting times of almost two years for children in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n

\n Of the 11 health boards that responded to The Herald\u2019s freedom of information (FOI) requests, NHS Ayrshire and Arran had the longest waiting times for pre-school and school-aged children, of 90 and 98 weeks respectively.\n<\/p>\n

\n Public Health Minister Jenni Minto said: \u201cLong waits are unacceptable and I would like to express my sympathy to anyone affected.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Scottish Government is committed to bringing down long waits and our Budget provides a record 22.5 billion for Health Social Care. This includes additional investment in audiology and increasing funding for the development of community audiology services to help address pressures and improve access to support.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long waits and delays for hearing tests have repeatedly been proven to increase the chances of conditions like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-459293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}