Direct hearing aid referrals: a prospective study.

General practitioners from a designated catchment area were invited to participate in a direct hearing aid referral project and were issued with a standard referral form outlining the criteria for referral. A total of 175 patients was referred with a fully completed referral form and were initially assessed by a senior audiology technician or higher grade. A total of 135 patients (77%) was suitable for hearing aid fitting and 40 (23%) were considered to be inappropriate referrals, of which 17 (9.7%) required further referral for an ENT opinion. For the purpose of safety, each patient was independently examined by an ENT doctor. The management decisions of the audiology technicians were in total agreement with those of the ENT doctors. Our results also suggested that patients below the age of 60 are generally unsuitable for direct referral.