Nicholas’ service delivery update

Welcome to this month’s update. Huge thanks to every Peer Support Volunteer involved. Behind every number is always a person worried for themselves or a loved one to get in touch and ask for help. So pleased that month after month we reply to these enquiries and requests.

Community Outreach

Here are the figures for the month of June across our six currently active drop-ins. In all, 14 volunteers helped 52 people directly and volunteered just over 20 hours of time.

As always, these fabulous figures only tell part of the story, as for many, it is the longer and deeper conversations that can make the biggest difference.

“Very long conversation (30-40 minutes) with 1 person. We covered all aspects of hearing loss, how it affects her, and strategies to use”.

“The person I spoke to was just collecting her first hearing aids. They were interested in how Bluetooth works, and different feature settings. Advised her on what she should ask for when getting the aids, and as she lives locally will come back if she needs some help with the Bluetooth connections. Also, took away some of our services leaflets”

“Met a lady with Alzheimer’s who was there with her husband. They had come into Audiology to replace a lost hearing aid. Chatted to them about our services and they now have some leaflets too”

Helpdesk

Helpdesk has been another source of support for people with hearing loss this month.

Sixty replies were sent to enquirers, responding to a wide range of topics including support groups, technology, work related issues and benefits.

Feedback received has included thanks from professionals in the field. This is from a Disability Employment Advisor at DWP: “Thank you for such a detailed and thorough response, this has been really useful in terms of signposting my client”, as well as enquirers directly, “Thank you for these helpful links, I can now focus more on my hearing [needs]”.

Thanks to the Peer Support Volunteers who have responded – great work as always. The review of the Helpdesk service is continuing, so thank you also to those who have been in touch asking for more enquiries.

We will continue to accept Helpdesk enquiries through our normal pathways for the time being. Please continue to share this as a way for people to access our support.

Helpful Hours

Thanks to the Peer Support Volunteers who delivered this month’s sessions. The (financial) year to date attendee total is 18 and the average approval rating is a fantastic 4.6*/5.

We still average around 20% of professionals attending, demonstrating the service’s use as an information guide and gateway to a wider population.

Here are some of this month’s feedback from a sensory support advisory service:

“It will help me to be better prepared and enable me to encourage clients to get an audiology appointment and be proactive in all stages of the process”. And an attendee on what changes they are going to make “I am going to prepare in the way that you suggested!”.

If you know of anyone who would benefit from any of our sessions, please signpost to Helpful Hours on the website – dates are now available to September.