New provider takes over city hearing centre after previous contract ended

A NEW hearing provider has taken on a care centre in Exeter city centre.

- by ECHO REPORTER

Scrivens Hearing Care, which has more than 70 years of experience in community-based audiology services, has acquired the facility previosuly occupied by Chime in Queen Street.

It comes after Chime, a community interest company, claimed in January it was being 'forced' into insolvency by the region's health commissioner as it hadn't received enough funding to cope with increasing patient referrals.

Having provided NHS adult and children’s audiology services on behalf of NHS Devon in Exeter and East Devon since 2011, it alleged it was being unfairly blamed by Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB), the local NHS body with responsibility for funding healthcare services in the county, for causing 'significant' waiting times and was unable to bid to keep its £4 million contract to run the service because it was financially unviable.