Controlling the quality of universal neonatal hearing screens

The Health Technology Assessment Programme has recently reviewed the role of neonatal screening in the detection of congenital hearing impairment. The review recommends that the health visitors distraction screen, currently implemented in the second half of infancy, should be replaced by a national programme based around universal neonatal hearing screening. Such a programme has been implemented as a routine and established service in Whipps Cross Hospital in the East London district of Waltham Forest. This programme has reinforced the need to routinely monitor the screen processes and outcomes. The Whipps Cross audit undertaken over a 2 y period from January 1996 is detailed, as are the targets employed for evaluating the processes. The monitoring flagged up implementation problems, and allowed remedial intervention. Monitoring should be built into all the universal neonatal hearing programmes currently being planned in the UK.