What steps is the Welsh Government taking to ensure there is sufficient funding for the training of auditory verbal therapists to ensure families of deaf children in Wales have the opportunity to access this evidence-based support?
The Welsh Government is committed to investing in health professional education and training in Wales. More than £283m is being invested in education and training of healthcare professions in 2024-25 with an additional £2.1m to support post-registration funding to support specialist training. Health boards manage their own procurement of both training for their staff and any service provision.
Our audiology policy includes a commitment to the Children’s Hearing Services Quality Standards. The standards outline what a quality service looks like in relation to access and the management of D/deafness which is principally hearing aid / implantable device management and provision of information relating to communication strategies.
A strength of the standards and NHS Wales Audiology services is the focus on working closely with other services supporting the development of children such as schools, education sensory support teams (qualified teachers of the D/deaf), speech and language therapists, community paediatricians, social services and others as appropriate.
The decision to select and use any given treatment approach or intervention in a healthcare setting is a clinical decision, made following expert assessment and discussion with all those involved in the care of that person and their family as relevant. As part of delivering care, the health professional will continually assess the effectiveness of the treatment.
The key to providing support for D/deaf children is early identification. The new national school entry (age) hearing screen provides a consistent approach to identifying hearing issues at age four or five. Work is on-going, with all stakeholders on a broader set of new recommendations to assure the quality of Paediatric Audiology services in the future.
The all-Wales Deafness pathway is evidence-based professional guidance which has been developed by, and for the speech and language therapy profession in Wales.
The Welsh Government ‘Talk with Me’ programme exists to support the speech, language and communication development of all children, with a particular emphasis on universal, population and targeted support. Ensuring timely access for universal and targeted support will free up capacity for those children who need access to more specialised support.
The needs of the child and the family are at the centre of planning and decision making. The child and their family need to make an informed choice about the interventions used, alongside the professionals supporting their chosen intervention. However, members of the D/deaf community also have views on the right approaches to developing D/deaf people’s communication skills. These must be taken into account in any decision about access to therapies, including auditory verbal therapy. As part of delivering care, professionals continually assess the effectiveness of the treatment.
The action we are taking, in line with A Healthier Wales, is to ensure that D/deaf children are seen by the right person in the right place at the right time, and provided the right treatment as determined by their health care professional.