The Newborn Hearing Screening Programme team attended the relaunch of the midwifery- led Bedford Maternity Unit at Bedford Hospital recently along with 100 parents and other organisations.

Deborah Cheshire, National Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) Manager for Luton Children’s Services, Jasmine Box, Luton Screener and Janet Coleman, Bedford Screener were invited to the event.

NHSP created a display celebrating the achievements of a recent Public Health England Quality Assurance Success in achieving their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and data about the children found to have a confirmed congenital hearing loss. Visual aids such as a large model of the ear and a baby doll were used to demonstrate the screening process and engage families in all aspects of hearing as part of early development in child health. Fathers were particularly interested in the equipment and emissions of sound waves and were encouraged to be screened so they could hear exactly what the baby will hear.

It is hoped this Bedford event will take place twice a year clearly putting NHSP ‘on the map’ , promoting Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust (who run Luton Children’s Services) as a Trust, and giving the NHSP screeners the opportunity to take pride in the work they do each do to a recognised high standard.

It is important to state all the screeners work exceptionally hard especially when we face challenges of children not brought to clinic or logistic constraints and it would be remiss of me not to thank them all for their service across the board.