In a nutshell (and we will try to keep this article brief), we (Affordable Hearing) are launching our NHS Hearing Aids – Lost & Broken replacement service.  It’s a new initiative for us and we think it’s a good one.  We hope you do too!

We did some of our extensive research; OK we asked Chat GPT and a few NHS hearing aid wearers.  The question:  How long is a bit of ‘waiting for an NHS hearing aid piece of string’?   The answer:  It’s basically a postcode lottery.  It varies, greatly, from place to place.  Replacements tend to be slightly quicker but it can still be a few months.  Please don’t wait months without hearing aids.  It really is so bad for us.  We can help you!!  What about the money?

Just how much does a replacement NHS Hearing Aid cost?  ‘How much’ follows a fairly similar pattern to time, it varies from place to place: if you lose or break your NHS hearing aid then you will generally be expected to pay a replacement fee. Ranging from £65 in Bedfordshire, £72 in Sussex and £110.00 in Oxford, per lost or damaged beyond repair NHS Hearing Aid.  These amounts don’t cover the cost to your local hearing department of replacing a hearing aid.  They are merely a contribution towards the cost.

We took a picture of the notice in the NHS Audiology Department at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford recently detailing their charge of ‘£110.00 per lost or broken beyond repair hearing aid.’  However, you can’t read it as there was too much reflection from the overhead lights.  So, unless you live in Oxford and have already needed a replacement and so know for yourself, you’ll have to take our word for it.  Here’s a picture of one of our favourite places (in Oxford) instead (Port Meadow).

Yes and no!  As we’ve mentioned the fees charged by your local NHS Hearing Aid provider don’t reflect or cover the full cost of replacing your NHS hearing aid.  They are just a contribution toward the cost.  There are some exclusions to who needs to pay this fee.  These exclusions are:

Anyone under 18

If you are also registered blind

When the loss/breakage has resulted from you being the victim of a crime

Hopefully at least one of these won’t apply to you and then we can help you with the cost through our ‘NHS Hearing Aid – Lost or Broken replacement service’.  However, first, here are a few tips on how not to lose your hearing aid and therefore not need us!

How do you not need us?

Has that made you scratch your head that we’re crazy enough to suggest you wear your NHS Hearing Aid around your neck?  You’d think as Affordable Hearing Aid Specialists we’d know they need to be in your ear and not round your neck, wouldn’t you!?  What we mean is, think about attaching a lanyard to your hearing aid and wearing that around your neck.  A sure fire way to reduce the chances of losing it?  Similarly, if you have pierced ears then you can get really beautiful and/or practical designs to not only decorate but also secure your device.  Such as these beautiful designs by Auzi or these more practical ones on Amazon.  There are  also other various options, nothing a quick trip around Google won’t answer.

We’re back to empty nests aren’t we!!  Again, joking apart, ‘everything in its place and a place for everything’ really comes into its own in relation to not losing, well everything really but in this case, your NHS Hearing Aids!  You should have been given a storage box/case when you first received your NHS hearing aids.  Putting them away in this every day will really help reduce the chances of you breaking/losing them.  It’s a great idea to keep the box in the same place each day too.  Otherwise, you just lose the whole shooting match (sound familiar?).

No, not the massive grown up children who flew the nest and broke your heart years ago, your hearing aids!  It is actually really good to get into the habit of intermittently checking that your hearing aids are still there.  Just a quiet, discreet tap behind the ear (without activating any changes of mode) helps enormously.

Absolutely it matters.  You’ll very likely struggle to keep up with conversation?  As well as suffer from listening fatigue whilst trying, but failing, to keep up with conversation.  Experience embarrassment from not being able to …. Yep, keep up with the conversation around you before understandably deciding to keep yourself to yourself.  That’s a long and flowery way to describe the fast track route to social isolation related to  the loss of your NHS Hearing Aid.  Something we now know also dramatically increases your chance of developing Dementia.

That’s not meant to be a dramatic load of old scaremongering, it’s all truly true.  We read it in The Lancet, doncha know.  We (as you may know if you’ve read any of our other articles) love to sit around drinking tea, dunking biscuits and thinking about doing stuff.  However, we feel an NHS Hearing Aids – Lost or broken replacement service was so important we’ve only actually gone and done it!

The  bare bones of our  ‘NHS Hearing Aids – Lost & Broken replacement service’ are:  In brief, if you have lost or broken beyond repair your NHS hearing Aid, if we have one, we will send you a replacement for £15.00 per aid.  We don’t always have one of everything but we promise to look as hard as we can.  We’ll even check down the back of the sofa in reception if you need one and ask us nicely!  In fact, if you ask nicely we’ll do most things!

We think our new initiative is needed because people lose and break things (simples) and 1.4 million people with NHS hearing aids means a lot of possible breakages and losses.

We know that most of us need to be careful and cautious with our spending and that for fear of sounding like a Tesco advert, ‘Every Little Helps’!  This is one of our attempts to help!

It’s a Ronseal initiative.  A ‘replacement service’.  You’ll need to already be an NHS Hearing Aid wearer.  Having waited to get to the front of the queue already,   let’s fast track you for any replacements!

Hopefully you might never qualify!  We’ve our fingers crossed that you’ll never need our ‘NHS Hearing Aid – Lost and Broken replacement service’.  However, qualification would seem reasonably obvious.  You’ll need to have lost or broken your …… yep, you guessed it……NHS Hearing Aid.  Hopefully if you follow our previously mentioned list of easy ways not to lose your NHS Hearing aid then you’ll be OK on this one?

NHS hearing Aids are brilliant, robust little things and generally if they go wrong they can be fixed.  In order to be liable for a charge the NHS protocol states ‘broken beyond repair’ so this shouldn’t be a problem but we’re here and always ready to help if it does.

We’re not sure that’s a completely relevant title but we enjoyed typing it!  In this situation it means that…. In order for us to ‘replace’ your NHS Hearing Aids, you need to have had one in the first place!  That’s it!  As you’ll find references to throughout our site our mission is to make hearing aids as accessible and as affordable as possible for everyone.  In order to minimise the time people are without hearing aids and to reduce the cost for people and the planet.  One of the ways we aim to protect the NHS.  Our ‘NHS Hearing Aids Replacement Service’ is in addition to this.  It isn’t to enable people to ‘beat the queues’ it is to try and support you and our NHS.  To save on admin and stretch budgets.  To get finite resources to help and support as many people as possible in as efficient a way as possible.

1.

Lose or break your NHS hearing aid and get in touch with us in all the usual ways:

By phone:  0330 230 3333

Email:  info@affordable-hearing.co.uk

BOOK a video call HERE:

2.

Let us know via a written (and actually we’re simple souls so possibly a picture will help too) description what you have lost/broken. We’ll then get busy rummaging (good and underused word!) through our cupboards (Womble style).  Hopefully we’ll have ‘just what you are looking for’.  At which point it’s on to number 3:

3.

Put an Affordable Hearing NHS Replacement Emergency Aid (found here) through the checkout and we’ll send you one out ready for you to take to your local provider. Your hospital Trust Audiology Department, Specsavers, Audiological Science or Scrivens (to name just 3!) to be programmed.

In case we haven’t said it enough.  This is a new initiative for us.  Another part of our mission to ‘Help Others Hear’.  We’re so grateful to all of our wonderful ‘Affordable Hearoes’ who have joined us on our amazing journey so far.  Want to come too?  Help us make good hearing aids available at a price people can afford, without having to wait.  Help us protect the NHS and our planet by extending the useful life of hearing aids.

As Rose Tremain famously said:  ‘Life is not a dress rehearsal’.  Or maybe cake is more your thing?  Shall we talk about the cherry on the top (we can’t find who the origin of that is attributed to – we asked the audience, phoned a friend and then checked ChatGPT).  No one is taking responsibility!!  You get the gist though.  Lost or broken your NHS Hearing Aid?  No problem, hopefully we’ve got you covered!  Don’t delay.  Please just  get in touch with us in all the usual ways:

This has been an Affordable Hearing Service broadcast on behalf of all lost or broken (beyond repair) hearing aids in the UK.  No hearing aids were harmed in the making of this broadcast!  It’s also because we absolutely love NHS hearing aids and feel they deserve their moment in the sun!  Here are some of the amazing NHS Hearing Aids we have at the moment waiting patiently to come to your rescue.  Any of them look like old friends to you?  Are you in need of giving one of them a good home?  We have lots more so please always ask us and what we have changes all the time.  Tomorrow is always another day so if today’s not your day, please do try again!  Here they are: