School Aged Hearing

The School Health Nursing Service within Worcestershire offer all children within their Reception Year the opportunity to have their hearing screened at school. The main reason for screening children’s hearing at this age is to ensure that all children have satisfactory hearing for learning in school. Hearing screening is recommended as a quick method for establishing if a child has satisfactory hearing (or not).

COVID-19 Update

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was not possible to visit schools and undertake the hearing screening programme for children who started Reception in 2020.

If you have any active concerns regarding your child’s hearing it is recommended you contact your GP who can refer direct to the Acute Audiology Department at the hospital.

Community Audiology Clinics

The Community Audiology Clinics are not currently in operation and are under review. For any professionals wishing to make a referral for a school aged hearing assessment, contact will need to be made with the child’s GP who can refer direct to the Acute Audiology Department.

 

 

School Aged Hearing Screening, Health Needs Assessments and the National Childhood Measurement Programme

Worcestershire School Health Nursing Service is now using a digital software platform known as School Screener to support delivery of the Healthy Child Programme.

The automated system will be used by the School Health Nursing Service to carry out Hearing Screening, Health Needs Assessments and the National Childhood Measurement Programme. This will ensure that any concerns are identified early to prevent longer term complications.

When children start school parents and carers are provided with a link to register with the School Screener Parent Portal, which can be accessed via specific web browsers for example, Google Chrome. 

Once registered for an account you will need to read the information about the programme and submit the form so that electronic results letters can be issued. Parents/carers can also opt their child out of any of these programmes via the Parent Portal if they wish. It is only necessary to register once. It is important all information provided is accurate and up to date. Text messages will provide alerts for example when results letters are available to be seen.

Clinical data from screening is collated and anonymised to produce dashboards to support management and service delivery. Schools will also be offered the health demographics relating to their school.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect. Please be assured that all personal confidential information will be kept secure and confidential at all times and will only be used by staff who have a lawful reason to do so. For details on how we use your information please visit our provider website: Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust.

School Aged Hearing Screening

Public Health England recommends hearing screening as part of the Healthy Child Programme. Hearing Screening is offered to all children in Reception within Worcestershire schools.

Untreated hearing problems can cause difficulties with speech, learning and behaviour. Therefore, identifying and addressing hearing problems at an early age can positively improve a child’s health and wellbeing as well as impacting on their social and educational development.

Each child will be given clear instruction of the process which will involve wearing a pair of child-sized headphones that isolate most ambient sound. An audiometer is plugged into a laptop to manage the sound and an on-screen game. The child will then identify the sounds they hear.

Any child who does not pass the hearing screening will be offered a second test 10-12 weeks later and referred on to Audiology at the hospital for further assessment if necessary.

Access short videos and more information about School Screener, or contact your School Health Nursing Team for more information.