Mrs Sarah Colwell

Opened on April 19, 2012

One in eight to ten thousand children are born with a condition called Microtia. This literally means 'little ear'and it can be unilateral (one ear) or bilateral (both ears) almost always resulting in the loss of hearing in one or both sides.

Unilateral Hearing loss is not about 'being a little bit deaf', it is a real and debilitating condition which causes all sorts of problems. Directional hearing, inability to locate sound, difficulty in social situations, having to concentrate more than you can...  A Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) is a device that would give these children the chance to have 'normal' hearing, but there is huge disparity in PCTs about who is 'allowed' to have one. My daughter and I both have Microtia. I have struggled all my life and don't want her to struggle to for the sake of a simple procedure.  She has friends with unilateral microtia who have the BAHA - their hospitals will fund this. How do we explain to a 6 year old that our hospital will not?

We must have a clear and consistent policy across the country - we want all children to have hearing.

Single Sided Deafness is not just losing a bit of hearing, it is losing a lot of the good stuff in life, because you haven't quite caught the end of that conversation and you really daren't ask again, it's looking 'silly', it's being frightened in a crowd, it's missing out on your education... It could ulimately be the difference between crossing the road safely and not hearing the car...

Please sign this for our deaf children.

This is what I received from my MP:

From the Office of Julian Huppert Member of Parliament for Cambridge House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA Telephone 01223 304421 Email julianhuppertmp@gmail.com

sarahcolwell@ntlworld.com

11 June 2012

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for contacting me to let me know that Molly’s case will need to go before NHS Cambridgeshire Exceptional Cases Appeal Panel to be considered. I appreciate this is a severe disappointment to you and Molly.

I have received a holding response from NHS Cambridgeshire, copy attached. I will send you a copy of the full response from NHS Cambridgeshire on receiving this. It would be helpful to know what you understand the next process of the process to be and what assistance you want me to be able to give you.

My case worker has spoken to the House of Commons Library Health Specialist who has confirmed that you unfortunately cannot be asked to be referred to another hospital. I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Huppert Member of Parliament for Cambridge

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