RESTRICTING hearing aids to one per person even if they have hearing loss in both ears will now be the subject of a consultation, health bosses have decided.

There was a public outcry over Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) plans to only provide one hearing aid or take away a second one when patients with two hearing aids went for re-assessment, as a way of reducing its deficit.

But the CCG announced last Thursday that consultation will now take place on second hearing aids and criteria for cataract surgery. It has also announced that it will not require patients to undergo weight loss or stop smoking ahead of routine surgery.

Earlier the health chiefs had said that smokers would be required to quit for eight weeks before a procedure and very overweight people required to lose weight ahead of all routine operations.

This new position, said the CCG, follows significant feedback from a wide range of stakeholders across health, social care and professional bodies on the proposed measures.

Patients will, however, be offered evidence-based guidance on the benefits of weight loss and smoking cessation as part of their healthcare.

Audiology experts had described the proposals to only issue one hearing aid to deaf patients who had previously been used to two as 'cruel'.

West Devon audiologist Alistair Kinsey said it was like going to an opticians and only getting one lens for your glasses: 'It is not acceptable. We are designed to hear in stereo. With a hearing aid in one ear only the perception of where the sound is coming from, for example, when you are crossing a road, is distorted.'

Twenty-three-year-old Becky Armitage, from Tavistock, received hearing aids a year ago after a progressive hearing loss over many years. She said it changed her life.

'I am partially deaf in both ears and without the hearing aids I have to ask people to repeat everything they say and I cannot hear traffic coming from a distance,' she said.

'In group situations I would find it very difficult to hear what was going on at all.

'The hearing aids in both ears make my hearing balanced and it makes doing everything a lot easier. I love sport and going out with my friends and I have the confidence to do that now with the hearing aids. It has changed my life.

'If someone needs hearing aids in both ears they should get them, no question.'

The CCG said, if implemented, the restriction would not apply to under 18s and individuals would be able to make a special case for funding.

The National Deaf Children's Society said this week: 'Whilst we welcome the announcement that there will be consultation before any decisions are taken, the CCG's claim that "one hearing aid is as good as two" is simply not true.

'Restricting young deaf adults to just one hearing aid can damage the hearing in the ear that is unaided. The emphasis should be placed on maximising hearing so that deaf young adults are able to fully access further education and early working life.

'We expect full transparency about the evidence base supporting any future decisions on hearing aid provision and will continue to call on the CCG for a complete reversal of any plans to restrict deaf young adults to one hearing aid.'

The consultation timetable on the CCG's proposals will be announced tomorrow (Friday).