Hi Kathleen,
Sorry I am so late to this one - but thought I would reply in case anyone else also needs an answer to this and it might also help with ageing in-laws etc.
The route to hearing aids on the NHS is an initial appt with your GP and then a referral to the Audiology department at the local, appropriate Hospital. They will assess/test hearing and then it takes approx 6 weeks to get the hearing aid(s).
If the hearing is further impaired- there are teams that are part of Social Services Departments ( Sensory Teams, some are called Sensory Impairment Teams, Sensory Support Teams and so on) - that have specialist workers with people with hearing impairments & visual impairments ( Social Workers with Deaf, deafened and Hard of Hearing People) and Re-hab officers for visually impaired. Once a referral has been made there, the case will be assessed for priority and an appointment will be made for the person to be visited in order to be assessed both personally and environmentally. Once the hearing is significantly impaired, there are many resources to aid in both support groups, information resources and very clever technology involved in equipment to help hard of hearing people still hear their T.V's and a smoke alarm and doorbell for example.
For deaf parents - there are also items like vibrating alert to let them know the baby is awake for example.
So - hearing aids are provided by the NHS and have nothing to do with Social Services, but Social Services can and do provide almost everything else.
Hope that's helpful, albeit terribly late!
Sheril.
