Wes Streeting has ordered an inquiry into how the NHS may have blighted the lives of thousands of children by misdiagnosing them as deaf.
The errors could have hampered the learning and communication skills of those affected, with ’devastating and lifelong’ consequences, the health secretary said.
He described the failure of NHS England leaders to promptly act on the scandal when it first came to light as ‘unforgivable’ and vowed to prevent further such tragedies.
At least 775 children across England have been recalled by hospitals over fears they have been misdiagnosed after having hearing tests between 2018 and 2023.
Another 1,374 children need to be seen in the next two months.
So far, 107 have been found to have suffered serious harm because of a botched diagnosis in which many were classed as deaf when they may have just needed hearing aids or cochlear implants.
The affected children might suffer developmental delays in their language, learning and social skills – and some could be wrongly labelled as having a learning disability and placed into a special needs school when all they needed was a correctly fitted hearing aid.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director at NHS England, has admitted the problems could stretch beyond 2018.
Wes Streeting (pictured) has ordered an inquiry into how the NHS may have blighted the lives of thousands of children by misdiagnosing them as deaf
NHS regions were due to complete their recalls by the end of last month but this is behind schedule and the southwest region has yet to even start.
Camilla Kingdon, a consultant neonatologist and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, will head the investigation.
Mr Streeting said he was shocked by the scale of the errors which he described as a ‘profound breach of trust’ between families and the health service.
‘Early diagnosis of hearing issues is vital,’ he told The Sunday Times.
‘The first few years are a crucial window for speech and language development that, once missed, cannot be fully recovered.
‘And yet years passed without sufficient action being taken by senior leadership in either central government or NHS England. That is unforgivable.’
In 2013, when the NHS was last restructured and the screening programme put under the control of Public Health England, the government scrapped quality checks on hospital hearing services.
Experts wrote to the chief scientific officer, Professor Dame Sue Hill, warning that the changes would affect care.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis (pictured), national medical director at NHS England, has admitted the problems could stretch beyond 2018
Concerns first emerged at the NHS Lothian health board, in Scotland, in 2021.
This prompted NHS England to review a handful of hospitals in England where the same systemic issues were found, leading to a wider review of all 142 centres across the country.
In June 2023, whistleblowers told The Sunday Times that poor-quality testing at paediatric audiology units had affected thousands of children across the country and NHS England was moving too slowly on the issue.
In September last year, a leaked internal report warned that as many as 1,500 children could have been misdiagnosed.
Mr Streeting was briefed about the issue only that month.
Now hospitals across England have been ordered to declare incidents and trawl through records to double-check if they have missed children in need of help.
The health secretary said the scandal was typical of an NHS ‘culture that buried problems rather than confronting them head-on’.
He added: ‘I’m determined that nothing of this kind is allowed to happen again.
‘That’s why I’ve commissioned this independent review to provide families with the answers they deserve, to identify clear lessons and to ensure history does not repeat itself.’
Camilla Kingdon (pictured), a consultant neonatologist and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, will head the investigation
Sir Stephen said: ‘We fully recognise the distress that this is causing to families.
‘We have always recognised the need for speed in this programme because we know that these are potentially developmental issues for the children affected.
‘We are moving at pace on this. But we have a limited number of expert audiologists who can do this work.’
