NDA volunteers in front of the mobile clinic minibus
Norfolk Deaf Association’s (NDA) Hearing Support Service looks after 10,500 Norfolk residents with NHS supplied hearing aids and is encouraging more people to get in touch and use this free service. More than 124,000 people in Norfolk have some degree of hearing loss. This equates to 1 in 7 people.
The NDA Hearing Support Service’s staff and volunteers offer home visits, as well as a mobile clinic, which visits 28 towns and villages throughout Norfolk. There are also nearly 130 community clinics; most of which are for residents at nursing homes and sheltered schemes, but some are open to the general public. The volunteers look after hearing aids, clean and replace tubes, fit ear moulds correctly, replace filters, supply new batteries and provide advice on how to get the most out of hearing aids.
Aliona Derrett, Chief Executive, NDA explained: “We are now able to look after all NHS hearing aids issued by Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Cromer Hospital, James Paget Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and West Suffolk Hospital, along with Specsavers, Scrivens and the Outside Clinic.
“Hearing aid users who have a NHS supplied hearing aid, and have moved into the county, can also benefit from our free service. “We are very grateful to North Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group for their financial support, which has enabled us to help ‘out of area’ patients. I would also like to say a big thank you to all the audiology providers for working closely with us and supplying us with hearing aid maintenance equipment, so we can undertake our work.”
“We are very fortunate to have such good provision in Norfolk and we, as a charity, are working very hard to secure the funds that we need to keep this vital service going and free of charge for our service users. We would not be able to do this without the ongoing generous support from many individual donors, Friends of NDA, community groups, grant making bodies and of course our local NHS commissioners”.
Caroline Cunningham-Brown, Commissioning Manager for the Integrated Commissioning Team at NHS North Norfolk CCG on behalf of the CCG’s in North Norfolk, South Norfolk and Norwich said: “Our primary aim is to provide local services which meet the needs of the population of North Norfolk, South Norfolk, Norwich and rural Broadland. Hearing loss affects more than 10 million people in the UK - one in six of the population and has significant personal and social costs which can lead to high levels of social isolation making it an important service to invest in.”
Ian Wickham from Sprowston visits the Hearing Support Service clinic at NDA’s head office on Thorpe Road: “I have been coming to NDA clinics for 10 years. The Norfolk & Norwich Hospital recommended NDA and I’ve always had excellent advice and have received new batteries and tubes when they are needed.”
Ian Wickham with NDA volunteer Karen Mullineux.
NDA has been working very closely with the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) since the inception of the Hearing Support Service, almost 25 years ago. These close links have enabled the NDA and NNUH to set up hearing test clinics from NDA’s premises.
Now a GP who refers patients to NNUH Audiology Department can choose NDA as a venue for their appointment. NDA Thorpe Road is very accessible and has ample parking.
Dr John Fitzgerald, Head of Audiology at NNUH commented: “The NNUH continues to provide NHS hearing aids to both new and existing hearing aid users. We have very short waiting times and are UKAS accredited – the sign of a quality service. Existing NHS hearing aid users that have been seen by ENT in the past (even many years ago) are eligible for ongoing care at the hospital Audiology department as are other patients with certain hearing losses – just ring the department on 01603 287284 to find out if you can continue to be seen by the hospital staff at any of our three sites."
"Any hearing aid user who meets one or more of the following criteria is eligible for a reassessment with Audiology:
• Asymmetric hearing loss
• Conductive hearing loss
• Severe/profound hearing loss
• Fluctuating hearing loss
• Very poor dexterity
• Distressing/bothersome tinnitus
• Hyperacusis
• Mastoid, chronic perforations
• Learning disability
• Dementia
• Multi-sensory impairment (e.g. a hearing loss and partially sighted)"
"For patients wanting a hearing aid for the first time living outside North Norfolk, Norwich and South Norfolk CCGs and over the age of 50 you can ask your GP for a direct referral to the hospital Audiology Service. We offer our services from the NNUH, Cromer and the NDA. The NDA enables us to offer a community based service, outside of the hospital setting, but to the same high standard.”
NDA also runs Assistive Listening Technology (ALT) Clinics for individuals and provides a service to businesses with impartial advice on equipment available to help employees with hearing loss in the workplace.
David Spicer ALT Adviser explains: “The majority of people who visits our ALT Clinics seek help for hearing in domestic situations, such as the TV, front door bell and using the telephone. But recent advances in hearing aid technology means that there is need for advice on equipment to help people hear in more challenging situations. The latest streaming devices, like the Phonak Roger Pen, transmit sound straight into hearing aids and are ideal for use in the workplace, lectures, talks and social situations. We can help individual hearing aid users and employers find the best solutions available.”
ALT clinics for individuals currently take place at NDA Thorpe Road, ACT Centre Aylsham and Cromer Hospital.
For more information about hearing aid and ALT clinics and to discuss an ALT business visit, contact Norfolk Deaf Association, t. 01603 404440, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.norfolkdeaf.org.uk
For details of the NDA mobile clinic and open community clinics please click on the links below
http://www.norfolkdeaf.org.uk/en-gb/clinictimetables/mobileclinic.aspx
http://www.norfolkdeaf.org.uk/en-us/clinictimetables/communityclinics.aspx
About the Norfolk Deaf Association
Norfolk Deaf Association (NDA) is dedicated to improving the lives of young people and adults with all degrees of hearing loss. This is achievevd by providing hearing aid maintenance, advice on assistive listening technology and communication methods, and support and information on hearing loss and other related conditions.
Charities are being offered an essential lifeline to allow them to carry out essential services during the coronavirus outbreak with grants available of up to £10,000.
Norfolk Community Foundation is encouraging charities on the frontline who are making a real difference within our communities to get in touch and apply for a grant.
While the pandemic is affecting everyone, it’s clearly having a big impact on particular vulnerable groups that may not have their usual level of access to support so grants have never been more important.
East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) listed as 7th in the top 100 not-for-profit companies in the UK to work for, as part of the Sunday Times’ Best Companies To Work For listing. They also went from receiving a one star to a three star rating in the year’s listing – which means they have received ‘extraordinary levels of engagement’ from their staff.
The placing and rating of companies is based solely on staff survey feedback results, and as such is down to employee satisfaction within each organisation.
EAAA is a helicopter emergency medical service provider covering East Anglia, with offices in Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, Melbourn and Peterborough. They provide a 365-day-a-year life-saving service, taking an expert crew consisting of a doctor, a critical care paramedic and two pilots directly to patients who have suffered life-threatening or life-changing accidents or medical emergencies. The clinical crew are supported by charity staff, consisting of a number of teams including; fundraising, operations, communications, HR and executive teams.
East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) has launched an ambitious plan to become a 24/7 helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) provider by 2020. The charity currently operates 365-days-a-year but not 24-hours-a-day, meaning that if an incident happened between midnight and 07:00 there is currently no HEMS provision in the region. The charity is aiming to cover this gap and become a full 24/7 HEMS service by 2020. To do that they need to raise an additional £1 million a year to fund the operation.
The type of incidents the charity attend – serious road traffic collisions, cardiac arrests, traumatic injuries and other medical emergencies - do not stop when their crew go offline. While a 24/7 service seemed to make sense, the charity needed to be sure, so have been gathering evidence to prove it. They worked with the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST), who task them, to review incidents over the course of a year where critical care was required but unavailable. They also assessed the need first-hand by trialling an overnight service via rapid response vehicle (RRV) four days a week from the Norwich base. The results of this work confirmed a significant region-wide need for overnight critical care, particularly in rural Norfolk. In the first twelve months of the overnight trial they attended 220 missions, but they say that with the helicopter they could do so much more.
So far Tia has raised nearly £500 for Young Epilepsy as well as over £200 for The East of England Ambulance Service via the justgiving page and funded 3 Brio Wrist Alarms, 1 Alert It companion Mattress Alarm and 2 SATs Alarms, not just for Toby but for others battling with Epilepsy.
Toby's original diagnosis back in May was Focal Seizures and Focal Motor Seizures which generalise into Tonic Clonics, since then he has been on daily medication but still has various types of seizures, Myclonus, treated for Asthma and now undergoing investigations for food allergies or intollerances but he remains a happy mischievous toddler.
As November was National Epilepsy Awareness Month Tia created a flyer with information regarding Epilepsy highlighting the seriousness of it and that there is no cure to be given out and displayed you may have spotted it in local shops.
Tia has also been decorating and hiding Epilepsy Awareness themed Norfolk Rocks as well as Shells which she has used to raise awareness for SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy) naming them Shells for SUDEP, her brothers have also helped to get involved with the decorating and hiding even Tommy (2) and Toby (1).
The youngest member of the Tia's Treasures Team Toby had his first Tonic Clonic Seizure in March and has since had over 30, 5 of which required a 999 call, after various tests Toby was diagnosed with Epilepsy in May, he has Focal Seizures which then generalise into Tonic Clonics, Focal Motor Seizures, Absences and just recently Drop Seizures.
Tia took it upon herself to set up a Justgiving Crowdfunding page called Help Tia To Help Toby, Tia raised over £1000 so she was able to achieve her goal of purchasing Toby a Seizure Alarm, she then managed to fund another 3 alarms and she has no plans in stopping there, she has now set up a new appeal called Help Tia To Help Others and plans on fundraising for as many Seizure Alarms as she can, these are life saving and life changing.