Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust receives prestigious accreditation

The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) is congratulating Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for becoming one of the first in the country to receive prestigious accreditation for their audiology services.

The team has been be given IQIPS (Improving Quality in Physiological Services) status. This badge of quality shows they are meeting standards set by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and are providing deaf children with the very best care in audiology.

The Trust is only one of twelve audiology services, out of 134 across the country, to receive IQIPS, following on from Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust earlier this year.

Both took the decision to sign-up to IQIPS voluntarily as the Government no longer assesses the quality of audiology services or offers support to help them improve. This is despite an NHS report in 2012 revealing one-third of audiology services are failing deaf children. NDCS has been campaigning to make it mandatory for all children’s audiology services to sign-up to the IQIPS process.

Gary Nethercott, Regional Director for the East of England at the National Deaf Children’s Society said:

“As children learn and socialise through hearing, good audiology services can be vital to a deaf child’s success in life.

“This will come as a great comfort to parents of deaf children in Norfolk & Norwich who now have a way of knowing that the audiology services their child uses is fit for purpose.”

You can find out more about the Listen Up! campaign from the National Deaf Children’s Society on improving audiology services here: http://www.ndcs.org.uk/about_us/campaign_with_us/england/listen_up.html


ENDS

For further information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Charlotte Lewis, Media Relations Officer
Email: charlotte.lewis@ndcs.org.uk
Tel: 020 7014 1178

Notes to Editors
• The National Deaf Children’s Society is the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and their families.
• There are more than 45,000 deaf children in the UK. The National Deaf Children’s Society helps deaf children and young people thrive by providing impartial, practical and emotional support to them and their families, and by challenging governments and society to meet their needs.
• The National Deaf Children’s Society believes that every deaf child should be valued and included by society and have the same opportunities as any other child.
• For more information visit www.ndcs.org.uk. For further support, parents can contact the National Deaf Children’s Society Freephone Helpline on 0808 800 8880 (voice and text), email helpline@ndcs.org.uk, or chat online at www.ndcs.org.uk/livechat.
• Improving Quality In Physiological diagnostic Services (IQIPS) is a programme sponsored by the Department of Health Chief Scientific Officer to promote and recognise good quality practice in physiological diagnostic services.