Paediatric audiology services play an essential role in the identification of all children with hearing loss, and timely and effective management of that deafness. Individual audiology services and the teams that support children should aspire and strive to deliver the best possible care to children / young people and families.
We are aware of and support the use of existing quality standards for paediatric audiology within the UK, and recognise that whilst there is no formally recognised UK wide document, standards have been adopted within three of the four Home Countries. We have developed this set of quality standards as an alternative option for those services / countries where quality standards are not currently in use. It is important to note that these standards do not aim to replace or supersede existing paediatric quality standards developed and used within the UK.
BAA recognises that the value of any set of quality standards lies in their effective implementation. This includes both a robust process for audit and reporting, as well as a clear mechanism for action planning and improvement.
An audit tool has been developed to accompany these standards and support their implementation. Audit of these standards is not currently compulsory, but it is hoped that with defining what a good service now looks like, services can benchmark themselves, and compulsory audit can be developed with an accrediting or regulatory body.