Lost, damaged or unwanted hearing aids
Contact us on 01823 342187 if you have lost, damaged or no longer need your personal NHS hearing aid or one we have loaned to you.
Hearing aids are issued on loan from the NHS and are valuable property. Please look after them and follow any maintenance advice you have been given by your audiologist.
If you lose or damage the hearing aid through negligence, we may need to charge you £100 per hearing aid and an invoice will be issued. Examples of negligence can be found below. We will only issue your replacement once the invoice has been paid.
Payment is not taken by the Audiology Department but General Office (please see your invoice for further details).
There are exemptions to being charged for lost and/or damaged hearing aids. Please read the information below to check whether you are exempt.
Hearing aid charge exemptions and examples of hearing aid neglect
Exclusion criteria
Those patients who meet one of the criteria outlined below will be exempt from paying and will have their hearing aid replaced free of charge:
- children and young people under the age of 18
Hospital inpatients (a hearing aid or other instrument lost or damaged as a result of being a hospital inpatient may be charged to the hospital ward) - patients with a terminal illness
- patients with severe developmental delay, severe dementia, learning difficulties or those cared for under the mental capacity act
- patients in receipt of the following:
- Income Support
- Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
- Pension Credit Guaranteed
- Working Tax Credit
- NHS Tax Credit exemption
- War Disablement Pensioners (who have a hearing-related disability pension)
- Patients or their partners who hold a current HC2 or HC3 certificate
- patients registered as sight impaired or severely sight impaired
- patients who have lost or damaged their hearing aid in a road traffic accident (police incident number required)
- hearing aid has been stolen (police incident number required)
- hearing aids more than five years old (in this case a reassessment is indicated)
In exceptional circumstances of repeated loss or damage the Audiology Manager will make a decision as to the best course of action and this may result in the patient being charged for the lost or damaged aid. The patient would be made aware of this prior to this charge being applied.
Examples of neglect
Charges will still apply if a patient has damaged their hearing aid through neglect. Examples of neglect would be:
- exposure to excessive moisture from showers, baths or swimming
- damage from contact with domestic appliances such as washing machines, microwaves or ovens
- tampering by patient or carer such as gluing parts of the hearing aid together or inserting the battery incorrectly
- marks of damage through neglect or poor storage such as rust, grime, melted casing and teeth marks
- poor and inappropriate cleaning of hearing aid or mould that causes irreparable damage