Availability of hearing aid batteries in Bridgwater: You said, we did

Conclusions

• We found that the Audiology Department do not have the capacity to staff deliveries of batteries to all GP practices. GP’s and hospitals that do stock batteries should inform the audiology department at Musgrove Park hospital when they are running low. There are options for patients whose GP does not stock batteries to request batteries in the post as detailed above.
• We have also found out that plans are in place to supply hospitals and GP’s directly from the stockists of the batteries, however we have been informed that this is a lengthy process and likely to take time.
• It is possible that the concerns regarding Bridgwater Community Hospital having no stock of hearing aid batteries may be due to a temporary supply problem however without knowing specific dates from patients who experience these problems it is difficult to determine whether this is the case.
• We hope that the information found out and detailed above in the finding section of this report, will help to inform members of the Bridgwater Senior Citizens Forum of the reasons for the difficulties that some of the members have encountered and will give options for alternative methods to require the hearing aid batteries that they need.

This report was produced by the previous Healthwatch Somerset service provider, The Care Forum.