Scottish Audiology Review Group Update - British Academy of Audiology |British Academy of Audiology

Following the publication of the BAA Lothian Review and the follow up announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care that a national audiology review group would be established to examine hearing services provided to both children and adults in health boards across Scotland, we thought we should provide a brief update of what’s happened and BAA involvement so far.

Overview

In January 2022, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care announced that a national audiology review group would be established to examine hearing services provided to both children and adults in health boards across Scotland, as well as to make recommendations on improvements for the service. It was also announced that an independent chair would be appointed to oversee the review.

This was announced in the context of failings highlighted in standards of care provided in the NHS Lothian Paediatric Audiology service, following an independent review conducted by the British Academy of Audiology.

In March 2022, the Cabinet Secretary announced the review group would be led by independent chair Professor Jacqueline Taylor and tasked with making recommendations to improve audiology services in Scotland. This work includes a separate reference group to ensure lived experience is at the heart of the review process and wider stakeholder views are understood and considered by the national audiology review group.

Members

Below is a list of confirmed members of the National Audiology Review Group. Membership is near complete, but is not final.

Jacqueline Taylor, independent chair
Catherine Ross, Chief Healthcare Science Officer, Scottish Government
John Day, Clinical Director of Audiology, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Angela Bonomy, Chief Executive Officer, Sense Scotland
Jim Harrigan, Head of Paediatric in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Adrian Carragher, Head of Audiology, NHS Ayrshire and Arran
John Marshall, Ear Nose Throat Clinical Lead, Scottish Government
Catriona Johnson, Associate Director for Managed Clinical Networks, Hearing Impairment Network for Children and Young People
Susan Campbell, Clinical Lead, Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme Scotland
Robert Farley, Associate Director (Healthcare Science), NHS Education for Scotland
Sandra McDougall, Deputy Director of Quality Assurance, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Lyn Hutchison, Senior Programme Manager for the Pregnancy and Newborn Screening Programmes, National Services Division, National Services Scotland
Andrew Murray, Medical Director of Forth Valley, NHS Board Chief Executives Group
Kathryn Lewis, Head of Audiology (President of BAA), British Academy of Audiology
Donna Corrigan, Chair, British Society of Audiology
Sam Lear, Senior Audiology Advisor, National Deaf Children’s Society Scotland
Crystal Rolfe, Associate Director for Strategy – Health, Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID Scotland)
Shankar Rangan, Executive Committee, The British Association of Paediatricians in Audiology (BAPA)

Documents in the public domain so far

Sub-Groups

There are three sub-groups working and reporting into the main group. Membership of these sub-groups will be confirmed shortly. BAA is ensuring we have good representation on all three groups:

structure, governance and leadership
quality assurance
education and training

The chair of the review group is keen to hear from a broad spectrum of audiologists and is engaging with BAA on the best way to do this.