Fancy a career in audiology? Boots Hearingcare is offering a new route to aspiring professionals
Boots Hearingcare has launched its own in-house training programme, providing a fresh route for aspiring audiologists to break into the hearing health care industry.
The leading UK private hearing care specialist has received approval from The Health and Care Professions Council to run its Qualification in Hearing Aid Dispenser (QHAD) programme.
The year-long work-based initiative, which is made up of online lectures, E-learning, and in-clinic training, entitles its participants to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Hearing Aid Dispenser is a title that is regulated by HCPC and is the role required in order to see and treat an adult. Once attained, it also allows the professional to diagnose a hearing-related issue, be able to refer for a medical opinion, and prescribe hearing aids.
The qualification provides a new route for aspiring Hearing Aid Dispensers, away from the traditional University route.
Karen Shepherd, Director of Professional Standards at Boots Hearingcare, said: “We’ve trained hearing aid dispensers in the past in partnership with other organisations so we have that experience.
“In the past, we’ve partnered with Aston University to deliver that. We delivered a lot of the practical content of the foundation degree, provided clinical placements and a lot of the technology teaching side. Working with a HEI (Higher Education Institution), however, means we are constrained by the University academic year timetable, the volume of students that they have the capacity to take on, as well as the fee.
“As a result of that, we have wanted to become an approved educator by the HCPC for quite some time and develop a programme that would allow people to become a Hearing Aid Dispenser, to a level that would be recognised by the HCPC to provide eligibility to apply for registration with them.
“This is critical to our business strategy because we will have the flexibility to run cohorts of students to match the business requirements optimise the way we work during a business year. The positive of the programme is two-fold. Firstly, the students are getting real-life experiences but as a business, we’re also benefiting from having additional capacity as they progress through the programme.”
You can find out more about Boots Hearingcare’s QHAD training programme here.
