Supplementary written evidence from Ruth
Thomsen (AUDIO 21A)
This is further value-adding material to assist
the Health Select Committee in making its recommendations to clear
the backlog for Audiology and to keep it clear.
An important Resource.
At least 80 BSc Audiology graduates will become
readily available Summer 2007.
An important Question is where will they contribute
best value for money in reducing backlogs most effectively? The
answer is no doubt they will contribute faster and give best value
for money if they are all employed in NHS Audiology Departments
as rapidly as they become available.
Why is this so?
1. The graduates will hit the ground
running when they join NHS departments because their work
placements in Year 3 have included working in these departments.
2. Only the NHS is really in a position
to commit to early job offers to enable the earliest starting
date and hence contribute soonest to reducing the waiting
list.
3. 80 graduates can contribute nearly 5,500
patient journeys every month, so every month lost in recruitment
means 5,500 patients still in the queue who could have been
helped.
4. Because they will have very little experience
of working in whichever private sector employer eventually decides
to offer them a job, an induction period will mean working at
perhaps 50% productivity for at least a month or maybe longer.
That means a further 2,750 patients still in the queue.
So time will be lost before confirmed recruitment
and lost again in getting up to speed in an unfamiliar environment,
and patients will be paying the price.
5. Value for money is dramatically better
when these graduates are used in an NHS Audiology service which
has already been modernised.
Calculations (using NHS band 5) lead to an NHS
cost per journey of £24, [12]this
compares extremely favourably with PPP cost per journey of
£200. [13]
The icing on the cake is that this is 88% cheaper
than the PPP route.
So what's the obvious next step?
As soon as possible we should do as originally
planned and bring these 80+ graduates into the NHS to start adding
value immediately, using the modernised infrastructure already
in place and clearing the backlogs.
Ruth Thomsen
Audiologist, Charing Cross Hospital
March 2007
12 £24 based on hourly rate of £9.80 Average
patient journey = Direct referral (1 hour), fitting (1 hour),
and follow up (1/2 hours) excluding hearing aid. Back
13
PT journey payment without hearing aid excluding hearing aid. Back
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