PATIENTS in the North-East are waiting up to 15 months for an NHS hearing aid, a national charity has revealed.

A survey carried out by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID), showed three of the region's primary care trusts (PCTs) were among the ten worst in England when it came to waiting for the devices.

Patients at Washington Health Centre wait up to 68 weeks, Sunderland Royal Hospital 62 weeks and South Tees 54 weeks for hearing aids. The Government's target is 18 weeks.

The RNID found the average wait was 22 weeks in 99 PCTs across the country, affecting about 28,000 people.

The shortest wait was four weeks, and 66 trusts provided treatment within 18 weeks.

The RNID says there are nine million people with hearing problems in the UK.

It is calling on the Government to take hearing loss seriously and put pressure on local health authorities to bring waiting times down to 18 weeks.

The research was obtained using the Freedom of Information Act and also found that 39 per cent of new patients in England wait for more than a year to get their hearing aids.

RNID director of communications, Brian Lamb, said: "If you struggle to pick up every word, hearing aids are a lifeline to work, friends and family.

"Despite Government assurances, an 18-week target is a distant dream for thousands of people waiting longer than a year for their first hearing aid, who are battling isolation and depression because of their hearing loss."

The RNID wrote to England's 152 PCTs and 99 replied.

Independent Durham county councillor John Shuttlewort said: "It doesn't surprise me. I know people who have gone private and spent £950 on getting hearing aids.

"Others have had to wait 18 months and then have only received one because they jumped up and down."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We acknowledge that audiology waiting times in parts of the country are too high, and that is why we recently published a national framework which sets out the tools the local NHS needs to transform this service.

"The framework was developed following extensive work with a range of stakeholders, including NHS audiologists, professional bodies and the RNID."

The worst offender was Kingston-upon-Thames, in south-west London, where a patient has to wait 125 weeks for an aid after first seeing their GP.

Waits of over a year were also found in Suffolk (78 weeks), Gloucestershire (72), Ealing (67), Havering (64), Shepway (58), and Mid-Essex (56).