SA Health reveals at least 263 may be impacted by bungle
The extent of South Australia's cochlear implant bungle may be greater than initially thought. Earlier this year, more than one hundred people were told their cochlear implants had potentially been incorrectly programmed at Adelaide's Women's and Children's hospital.
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00:00 Well Corinna, it was in March that we learned of the issues of the cochlear implant program
00:06 here at the Women's and Children's Hospital.
00:08 At the time that it was announced, more than 120 families were potentially affected by
00:14 cochlear implants being incorrectly programmed.
00:18 An independent review was handed down in August.
00:21 It found that 208 children have had their cochlear implants programmed by the hospital
00:26 since 2006, but yesterday we learned that that number has increased to 263.
00:35 An additional 55 adults who were treated by the service as children between 1991 and 2006
00:43 have now been contacted.
00:45 Those who have been identified have been offered independent hearing checks to determine whether
00:51 or not those cochlear implants were in fact programmed correctly or not.
00:58 We know of at least 30 children who have had their implants incorrectly programmed.
01:04 Of course that can lead to further hearing issues and developmental delays as well.
01:10 There was an independent review commissioned by the state government.
01:14 That review made 59 recommendations.
01:19 So far only 10 of those have been implemented in the hospital.
01:24 We have been told that the remaining 49 will be implemented in the first half of next year.
01:34 The opposition have said that the progress is at snail's pace.
01:38 The state government, they've paid out nearly $1.5 million to 54 families.
01:45 There are a further 70 families who are awaiting assessment for financial compensation.
01:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]