Audiology team praised for their ‘kindness’ and ‘compassion’ towards 98-year-old Flintshire woman

A health boards Audiology team have received high praise after coming to the aid of a 98-year-old Flintshire woman who was struggling with hearing loss during the pandemic.

Betty Williams is a resident of Rhiwlas Care Home in Flint and after testing positive for COVID-19 was placed in isolation in her room . 

During that time, her hearing loss was causing her distress and she was struggling to communicate with staff and her family over the phone.

Her son, Nick Williams, has praised the Audiology team from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board their quick response with providing her with a new hearing aid.

He said: “While my mum was in isolation she began to find it really difficult to communicate with myself over the phone and also with the staff.

Her hearing was becoming worse and it was causing a great deal of distress and she felt very lonely.

I contacted Mold Hospital and they put me through to the Audiology team.

Two members of the team, Delyth and Megan, immediately came up with a solution.

They were able to set up a replacement hearing aid remotely and drop it off with staff at the care home, providing her with a new hearing aid straight away.

I was so impressed with their response – they were absolutely fantastic and this made a huge difference to my mum’s recovery.

My mum is a very proud woman so having the new hearing aid really brought her confidence back. This is all down to the Audiology team – they are a credit to the NHS and I will never forget their kindness and compassion.”

John Day, Clinical Director of Audiology for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said: “It is great to know that Mrs Williams can now hear and communicate better as a consequence of Delyth and Megan’s professional help.

“Such feedback, in this case from Mrs Williams and her son, is appreciated by the Audiology team.

“The wearing of face masks is providing additional challenges for people with hearing loss due to an inability to lipread, so use of well fitted hearing aids is particularly more important.

“We’ve operated a postal and phone service for Audiology patients since COVID lockdown. Some good news is that we have now started to see more patients face-to-face where we need to do so.”