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Outcome of Newborn Hearing Screening Programme delivered by health visitors
1Department of ENT, Gloucester Royal Hospital, Gloucester, UK. basusyama@hotmail.com
Insights
Community-based newborn hearing screening in England meets national standards. This convenient program for parents identifies congenital hearing loss effectively, ensuring timely diagnosis and rehabilitation for infants.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Pediatrics
- Audiology
Background:
- The Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) was established in England in 2001.
- It aims to identify congenital hearing loss in newborns.
- Screening is conducted in hospitals or community settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the performance of community-based NHSP.
- To compare community screening against national targets and pilot project outcomes.
- This is the first large-scale UK study on community-based NHSP.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of hearing screening data for 10,074 well babies (March 2004 - December 2005).
- Exclusion of babies admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit.
- Retrospective review of case notes for infants failing initial screen; assessment of coverage, referral rates, and yield.
Main Results:
- The community screening program met all NHSP standards.
- Performance was comparable to national pilot sites' average results from 2004.
- Identified infants received timely diagnosis and rehabilitation.
Conclusions:
- Community-based hearing screening by Health Visitors meets national standards.
- The program offers a low false positive rate and convenience for rural parents.
- Implementation across wider areas is feasible and recommended.
Background:
The Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) was introduced in England in 2001 to detect congenital hearing loss in the newborn. The screen is either hospital- or community-based.
Objectives:
This is the first large-scale study of community-based NHSP published in the United Kingdom which aims to evaluate the performance of the community-based screen and compare it against national targets for NHSP and the outcome of national pilot projects.
Method:
Hearing screening data recorded for 10,074 well babies between March 2004 and December 2005 were analysed. Babies who were admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit were excluded. The case notes of all children who failed the initial hearing screen, either unilateral or bilateral, were reviewed retrospectively. Specific performance measures include coverage rate, referral rate and yield. Reasons for failure to complete the screen were identified.
Results:
The community programme met all the standards set by the NHSP and the results are comparable with the average of the pilot sites reported in 2004.
Conclusion:
The data demonstrate that a community-based hearing screening programme conducted by Health Visitors meets all the current national standards and could be implemented across wider areas in this country. Its advantages include a low false positive rate and convenience for parents living in rural areas. The babies identified can be diagnosed and rehabilitated in a time which meets national standards.
