The Great Hearing-Aid Rip-off!

Energize said:
NHS price is subsidised by taxes so you can't make a comparison like that.
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Apparently not!!

Yes they are subsidised by taxes and that makes them free on the NHS but the cost to the NHS from the manufacturer is apparently £60.
Although the guy said, High Street shops probably pay on average £100 because their buying power isn't as good as the NHS!
 
All I will say is dont buy from high street shop. Sadly my lovely audiology department disbanded (I blame you Dimple cos you are at that trust :p :D) now I have a rubbish audiology service but slowly they are getting it. The top trick they tell me is costs but if you dont like the device tell them till they get sick of you, they will then aource one from another manufacturer. Ive been profoundly deaf all my life so to go deaf suddenly sounds (no pun intended.) awful.
 
Mrs Seabiscuit said:
All I will say is dont buy from high street shop. Sadly my lovely audiology department disbanded (I blame you Dimple cos you are at that trust :p :D) now I have a rubbish audiology service but slowly they are getting it. The top trick they tell me is costs but if you dont like the device tell them till they get sick of you, they will then aource one from another manufacturer. Ive been profoundly deaf all my life so to go deaf suddenly sounds (no pun intended.) awful.
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Don't blame me.
I work about 100 yards away from our Audiology department but I had to cycle to Cobridge for my first hearing test and then had to cycle to Longton Cottage to pick it up :(
I can get batteries from my Audiology dept but I nicked that many I've probably got two years worth.

Oh and I was told that if I lose it a new one will cost £70.
 
Dimple said:
Don't blame me.
I work about 100 yards away from our Audiology department but I had to cycle to Cobridge for my first hearing test and then had to cycle to Longton Cottage to pick it up :(
I can get batteries from my Audiology dept but I nicked that many I've probably got two years worth.

Oh and I was told that if I lose it a new one will cost £70.
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I am joking Dimple but yes its a joke isnt it. :)
 
Can you get the in the ear jobbies instead of the behind the ear on the NHS?
Only asking as my hearing needs sorting, the problem I have is anything on my ear, e.g. hair/cap irritates me and I was looking at the in the ear type you can get, after reading this thread its looks like its probably betting going through the NHS than a specialist.
 
flasher said:
Can you get the in the ear jobbies instead of the behind the ear on the NHS?
Only asking as my hearing needs sorting, the problem I have is anything on my ear, e.g. hair/cap irritates me and I was looking at the in the ear type you can get, after reading this thread its looks like its probably betting going through the NHS than a specialist.
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I was told no, the NHS only do a behind the ear model..

The thing is they are FREE, so if you went down that route first then said you're having problems they may come up with a better alternative!

Worth a try :)
 
Mikey1000 said:
Apparently not!!

Yes they are subsidised by taxes and that makes them free on the NHS but the cost to the NHS from the manufacturer is apparently £60.
Although the guy said, High Street shops probably pay on average £100 because their buying power isn't as good as the NHS!
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A study conducted by my university puts the figure at hundreds of pounds so I would suggest he is incorrect.

http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/desilvad/AE_2012.pdf

$575.90 retailer cost for a behind the ear digital hearing aid, so a £650 retail price is not bad from a high street retailer.

And you do realise that there are big differences between different models of hearing aid?
 
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LeeUK said:
It's not just hearing aids. People with poor sight are being taken for mugs too.
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Seriously? I'm hearing and visually impaired, so both depts apply to me. It's just that for ears, I can get away with my hometown Stafford as they have audiology, but for my eye, I have to go to Wolverhampton. My lens prescription (one eye only, other is blind) is -27.5 and I pay something like £47.50 for a lens which isn't too bad. And trust me, -27.5 is a very high prescription. -7 is considered bad let alone 27.5!
 
Monserrat said:
Seriously? I'm hearing and visually impaired, so both depts apply to me. It's just that for ears, I can get away with my hometown Stafford as they have audiology, but for my eye, I have to go to Wolverhampton. My lens prescription (one eye only, other is blind) is -27.5 and I pay something like £47.50 for a lens which isn't too bad. And trust me, -27.5 is a very high prescription. -7 is considered bad let alone 27.5!
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My eyes are +5.5 and walking into a high street opticians I am lucky to walk out with a decent pair of glasses for under £200. Add on thin lenses and sun reactions and the price goes up.
 
LeeUK, you've got the opposite problem as you provided a + number. This means that you are far sighted. When you're short sighted with -27.5, you are essentially blind without contacts. Guess the low £47.50 price that I pay reflects the fact that my lens is mandatory, and even with the lens fitted, I can only see 2M.
 
I wear glasses and am honestly shocked they cost so much now, obviously you can purchase a £10 pair from the internet, but I always find they are poor fitting and leave my ears very sore, also they sometimes leave me feeling a bit dizzy due to bad setup of pupil distances (even though I have them measured by opticians).

Should be more of a watchdog on what is essentially ripping people with disability's off, the prices of hearing aids is really quite stupid.
 
If I had my way, all of it free on the NHS. Don't think we should be made to pay for dental, eye and earcare on top of paying so much frigging tax.

Luckily my glasses were heavily subsidised by work and the eyetest paid for.
 
Mrs Seabiscuit said:
All I will say is dont buy from high street shop. Sadly my lovely audiology department disbanded (I blame you Dimple cos you are at that trust :p :D) now I have a rubbish audiology service but slowly they are getting it. The top trick they tell me is costs but if you dont like the device tell them till they get sick of you, they will then aource one from another manufacturer. Ive been profoundly deaf all my life so to go deaf suddenly sounds (no pun intended.) awful.
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This is what I need to do. Current set of aids are 10-year old Phonak Aero 311's, and honestly, I got some new Siemens a year and a half ago and no matter how much tweaking they did (Burnley audiology), they still sound like I'm underwater. So it was back to the old battered Phonaks, the old childrens auidology at Nelson were always spot on with their sound profiles.

Need to get the Siemens back in and throw them at their face haha, the active noise cancellation (that can't be switched off) is appalling. Takes a good second for it to react and then stays like that for ages, which is annoying when it was only one loud noise. I don't need active noise cancellation, I'm perfectly capable of turning them down myself :o

Think I may enquire if I can get some new Phonaks instead.
 
I've been looking for info on hearing aids, and found this from so long ago.

I have NHS ones, but I'm not happy with them for audio HiFi purposes, I've been told you can get ones with tone controls, via apps on the phone, etc etc, all hobnobs etc.

So I was thinking of going private, but at the sort of prices here, no chance. Does anybody have anything further please ?
 
My daughter uses NHS hearing aids and we've been told that they cost around £2k - indeed when we looked at private options they were that or more. My guess is that if you want ones that are more suited to an audiphile, you'll end up spending a whole head of cash more than the £2k for NHS bog standard ones
 
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