A Scottish Government health minister heaped praised on the audiology team at NHS Forth Valley Hospital during a recent visit.

Jenni Minto, minister of public health and women’s health, met local audiology staff, students and volunteers to hear about the work being taken to enhance the skills of staff and improve the range of audiology services available across Forth Valley.

Speaking of the visit, Jenni said: “I was hugely impressed by the work underway to improve the experience of local patients of all ages and develop the skills and experience of the local audiology team.

“The care and commitment shown by the staff, students and volunteers I met was inspirational and I would like to thank the team for taking the time to meet with me and discuss the many challenges and improvements they have made to local services.”

During her visit, Jenni met with Adam Tasker, a ten-year-old from Falkirk who is due to undergo surgery to have a cochlear implant fitted after he experienced sudden profound level of hearing loss due to a football injury.

The audiology team has been working closely with Adam and his parents Gillian and Liam over the last few months and helping them prepare for the surgery.

Stephanie Doody-Orr, audiology services manager at NHS Forth Valley, said: “We were delighted to welcome the minister of public health to meet some members of the audiology team based at Stirling Health and Care Village.

“We were delighted to highlight the great work being taken forward to reduce waiting times, improve communication across services and support local patients and their families.

“I am very proud of the team who worked tirelessly to keep audiology services running throughout the pandemic and have continued to drive forward a wide range of service developments and improvements.”

In recent years, the audiology team at NHS Forth Valley has made vast improvements in their services.

These include the development of advanced audiology roles to help reduce ENT waiting times and organising dedicated continual professional development sessions every month.

Several staff members are also undertaking additional advanced professional qualifications and leadership programmes to further enhance their skills and experience.