LAUSR

The 2019 revised NICE guidance (TA566) on cochlear implantation (CI) lowered the audiological threshold at which patients become eligible for CI. NICE estimates this will result in a 70% increase in CI by 2024/25. We performed a retrospective audit of all audiograms performed at East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust (serving a population of 695,000 people) over the last 6 years. We identified how many patients were eligible for CI using both the 2009 guidelines and the revised 2019 guidelines. When using the 2019 guidelines, 163% more patients were eligible on audiological grounds for CI (P=0.0009). Increased demand for CI surgeons will require either higher throughput from existing centres, or the creation of new centres entirely, whilst training more surgeons may require a corresponding increase in CI fellowships.