MNCLHD

MNCLHD

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

National Performance Indicators to Support Neonatal Hearing Screening in Australia

Around half the children born with hearing impairment have no identified risk factor for the condition. It is widely acknowledged that delays in the identification and treatment of permanent childhood hearing impairment may profoundly affect quality of life in terms of language acquisition, social and emotional development, and education and employment prospects. All states and territories in Australia have universal neonatal hearing screening. This working paper, by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), presents a set of performance indicators for monitoring neonatal hearing screening activity in Australia at a national level. National evaluation and monitoring provides a measure of how well neonatal hearing screening is achieving its aims and objectives and will enable strengthening of screening practices and administrative processes to further improve outcomes for Australian infants. (Report released by the AIHW on 25th November 2013)

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