asked the Minister for Health the guidelines which have been issued to health boards regarding assistance for people who are hard of hearing, or who have children who are hard of hearing, to provide batteries for their hearing aids.
Written Answers. - Hearing Aids.
216.
Under the guidelines issued by my Department the health boards make hearing aids available free of charge to eligible adults and to all pre-school and national school children whose need for a hearing aid has been established at the developmental or school health examinations. They also provide two batteries with each hearing aid. Replacement batteries are not normally provided by health boards because they are cheap and are readily available. Some health boards provided replacement batteries for a period but this practice has now ceased.