A HEALTH boss said people who were entitled to a better hearing aid on the NHS would be seen as quickly possible after three-year waits were revealed.

Ian Wishton, head of the hearing and balance service at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said staff were facing a massive task to replace old analogue hearing aids with digital ones.

But he said the wait was "within the national average" and would be worth it.

The Lancashire Telegraph reported last week that the longest wait for the new devices would be three years in Burnley, a year-and-a-half in Blackburn.

About 100,000 people, mostly pensioners, wear hearing aids in East Lancashire, about a fifth of the area's population.

Digital hearing aids can cut out background noise suffered by people wearing traditional models.

Mr Wishton said the scheme "has led to additional demand on the service".

He said: "Inevitably those trusts who started the programme earlier have shorter waiting times because they have now seen the large numbers of patients who wished to be assessed for the new type of hearing aid.

"Joining the programme has meant huge investment of approximately £300,000 in both new equipment and training for staff.

"There are approximately 100,000 hearing aid users across East Lancashire, many of whom now wish to be re-assessed for a digital hearing aid.

"We also receive approximately 150 referrals per month from new patients across East Lancashire who have never worn a hearing aid but who require assessment and hearing aid fitting.

"We will continue to see new patients as quickly and efficiently as we possibly can.

"Existing analogue hearing aid users are given the opportunity to have their hearing aid checked to ensure that it is fully functioning in the interim period."