Current status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 1 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its pledge to expand community audiology services and hearing tests on the high street, how many NHS boards currently provide these services through community providers, and what funding has been allocated in 2026-27 to support expansion of this model.
The information requested on the number of NHS Boards that currently provide audiology services through community providers is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Audiology services are operated by NHS Health Boards, which hold information on their own service delivery arrangements.
For 2026-27, the Scottish Government has allocated an additional £1 million in funding for community audiology policy, increasing total funding to £1.2 million. This additional funding underlines our commitment to support community audiology policy development and the Service Renewal Framework vision to shift the balance of care to the community. This funding will also continue to fund the “Near You” service run by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). The service is operating in five Scottish health board areas and provides hearing checks and after-care support to hearing aid users, including maintenance, battery replacement, sign-posting and peer support, and we have signalled our intention to go further in our manifesto.