MTW Hospitals Cut Hearing Aid Wait From 13 Months to Under Two Weeks

Patients waiting for hearing aids at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) are now getting them in under two weeks, down from a peak wait of 13 months, after the trust's audiology team overhauled how it fits aids for the majority of patients.

The team had already tried adapting its face-to-face clinics, including group sessions, but the real shift came in February with a new virtual fitting pathway, led by Deputy Head of Audiology Tessy Henry Gomez with senior audiologists Ashwati P K and Merin Mariam Abraham. It targets patients with mild to moderate hearing loss - 60% of the people on the waiting list - by pre-programming their hearing aids and posting them out directly, with a follow-up phone call six weeks later to check how they're getting on and offer further support if needed.

The 595-strong waiting list of mild-to-moderate patients was cleared in six months, and new patients in that group now have hearing aids posted out every Friday, meaning under two weeks from initial assessment to delivery. The department's overall waiting list has fallen from 1,300 to 334 patients, with the maximum wait across all patients dropping to four months. The trust says the streamlined approach also frees up clinic space to see more new patients at lower cost to the NHS.

The team's work was recognised through the NHS Elect Audiology Improvement Collaborative, running from September 2025 to September 2026, with a special commendation from NHS Elect's director for Henry Gomez's leadership. NHS England and the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) are now looking at the model as a possible blueprint for audiology departments elsewhere in the country. Source: Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust