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Written question asked by Alison Griffiths (Conservative) on Wednesday, 1 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 6 July 2026 (named day). It was answered by Karin Smyth (Labour) on Monday, 6 July 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Audiology: Health Services

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has undertaken an assessment of geographical variation in access to cochlear implant assessment and treatment services in England; and what the average travel distance and travel time is for patients resident in West Sussex referred for cochlear implant assessment and treatment.

Answer

No assessment of the trends in the level of variation in referral pathways for adult audiology services in England has been made.

Data on waiting times for specific specialist audiology pathways such as tinnitus, cochlear implant, balance disorders, and complex hearing loss services is not held.

NHS England does, however, publish data on waiting time data for the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialty which includes some audiology patients. The available data is not broken down to individual specialist audiology pathways or by constituency.

The latest published data, from April 2026, shows that patients in the NHS Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board, which covers West Sussex, are receiving ENT care quicker, with 57.9% of patients now waiting within 18 weeks, an increase of 6.1% on a year earlier. This data can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2026-27/

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
15201
Session
2026-27
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Health services West Sussex Audiology
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk