The ALLIANCE responds to the Scottish Government’s update report on the implementation of IRASS recommendations
- Area of Work: Policy and Research, Scottish Sensory Hub
- Type: News Item
- Published: 30th May 2025
The ALLIANCE has published a response to the progress report on improvements to NHS audiology services.
In August 2023, the Independent Review of Audiology in Scotland (IRASS) published its report setting out 55 recommendations for improvements across audiology services. In December 2023, the Scottish Government accepted these recommendations in principle, and began work on addressing the recommendations.
As part of this improvement strategy, Audiology is now considered as a clinical priority area within the NHS in Scotland.
The Scottish Government published an update report in April 2025 on progress of the implementation of the IRASS recommendations. This update states that as of 31 December 2024, from the 55 recommendations:
- 23 are complete
- 15 have transitioned into operational workplans to be taken forward accordingly
- 17 have been “re-aligned” which means completion is dependent on work to complete other recommendations.
The ALLIANCE has published a response to this update. Our response largely focuses on the status of the most urgent IRASS recommendations, and those which the April 2025 update records status as “transitioned” or “re-aligned”.
We have included nine key recommendations for the Scottish Government in our response. Our recommendations also reflect on the lived experience of people accessing audiology services in Scotland, informed by a range of ALLIANCE research.
The ALLIANCE welcomes the progress which has been made to date, however we remain concerned about whether there has been sufficient support and resources from Scottish Government to enable audiology services to fully implement the urgent recommendations, as well as concerns over transparency of the evidence used for decision making in determining the status of recommendations as being “complete”, “transitioned” or “re-aligned”.
Improving transparency will give people confidence that audiology services are properly considered within strategic planning at Health Board and national government levels, to ensure that people can access the services they need, when they need them.
Our full response is available below.
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