Written question asked by Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 5 January 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 January 2026. It was answered by Stephen Kinnock (Labour) on Friday, 23 January 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.
Audiology: Community Health Services
- Question
-
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of commissioning a national framework mandating ICBs to commission NHS community audiology services on a self-referral basis that include wax removal.
- Answer
-
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local population. This includes the arrangement of services for ear wax removal.
The current availability of self-referral and direct access to audiology services depends on local commissioning arrangements and service protocols, including ICB commissioning. Currently, self-referral to audiology services is usually for those with age related hearing loss.
NHS England is working with ICBs to support greater standardisation of self-referral arrangements and to assess opportunities to bring more of the self-referral process into the NHS App and website in future where appropriate.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 103117
- Session
- 2024-26
- Subjects
- Community health services Integrated care boards Earwax Audiology
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-01-23 10:55:24 +0000
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/103117
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/103117
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/103117