The HSE’s National Audiology Review Group (NARG) 2011 recommended that a domestic programme for audiology be established as a matter of priority. Following the subsequent completion of a workforce planning exercise and engagement with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) it was agreed that the most appropriate route for initial training should be via an accelerated two-year MSc programme for students with suitable honours degrees.
In this context the HSE and the HEA requested the Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) not to commence the BSc programme in Audiology in 2012 as a formal process to select a higher education institute to commence a programme in audiology had not been completed and the workforce planning exercise referred to above indicated that the student numbers required to maintain such a small workforce would not be sufficient to sustain a BSc programme. It was the intention of the HSE and the HEA to commence this selection process in early 2013. AIT commenced its BSc programme in 2012. It was not accredited with a suitable professional body as is a standard prerequisite for any health professional education and training course. The non-accreditation of the course posed obvious patient safety problems for the HSE in terms of facilitating placements. Out of concern for the students the HSE, in November 2012, agreed to support placements for the students on the basis that AIT achieved suitable accreditation from the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) by an agreed deadline of May 2013. This accreditation was subsequently not achieved within the timeframe.
Following a judicial review initiated by two students against AIT, the HEA and the HSE in August last an agreement was reached, subject to certain conditions, that the AIT would recommence the course, the HEA would fund it and the HSE would provide placements. The agreement relates to the current cohort of audiology students only.
