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<p>Information concerning the number of patients who waited more than six weeks for
an initial NHS hearing assessment and a follow-up NHS hearing aid assessment in each
of the last five years is not available. Audiology is not one of the key referral
to treatment functions which are recorded as a data set.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In
the following table, we have provided a count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)
with a primary or secondary operative procedure of 'operation on cochlea' by five
year age brackets for the years 2013-14, and provisional data for April to November
2014-15.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It should be noted that FCEs are not the number
of patients because one patient may have had more than one episode of care within
the time period.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>
</p><p> </p><p>Age</p></td><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>2014-15 <br> April to November<br>
provisional</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>0-4</p></td><td><p>346</p></td><td><p>219</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>5-9</p></td><td><p>95</p></td><td><p>65</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>10-14</p></td><td><p>89</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>15-19</p></td><td><p>47</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>20-24</p></td><td><p>31</p></td><td><p>12</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>25-29</p></td><td><p>25</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>30-34</p></td><td><p>26</p></td><td><p>16</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>35-39</p></td><td><p>46</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>40-44</p></td><td><p>49</p></td><td><p>28</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>45-49</p></td><td><p>31</p></td><td><p>30</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>50-54</p></td><td><p>43</p></td><td><p>31</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>55-59</p></td><td><p>34</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>60-64</p></td><td><p>53</p></td><td><p>32</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>65-69</p></td><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>44</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>70-74</p></td><td><p>54</p></td><td><p>38</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>75-79</p></td><td><p>46</p></td><td><p>38</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>80+</p></td><td><p>46</p></td><td><p>32</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unknown</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>1,124</p></td><td><p>736</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Source:</em> Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) Health
and Social Care Information Centre.<br> <br></p><p> </p><p><em>Notes:</em></p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>1. A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period
of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs
are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number
of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the
same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>2. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over
time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage
(particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity
(particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions
in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient
settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent
increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information.
HES figures includes activity ending in the year in question and run from April to
March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>3. The data for 2014-15 is provisional and may be incomplete
or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from
provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in
the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the
latest period, ie November from the (month 9) April to November extract. It is also
probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last
two months of any given period. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies
that have not yet been investigated and corrected.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>
</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p>
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