EAR patients at Warrington Hospital could be provided with modern digital hearing aids in the future, thanks to a major funding boost of £134,935.

This will allow audiology facilities across North Cheshire Hospital NHS Trust to be upgraded and expanded, and new equipment will be bought to assess suitable patients for digital hearing aids.

It will also mean audiologists can be equipped with specialist skills to assess, fit and provide follow-up support to digital hearing aid users.

And the digital hearing aids themselves are expected to be available within the next few years.

Milly Lynskey, audiology manager, said: "It is still very early days, but evidence suggests that audiologists are better able to fine-tune digital hearing aids to the needs of the patient than the conventional devices. However, they are not suitable for all hearing impaired people.

"This change will have a large impact on the audiology department and will take time to implement. All existing hearing aid users will be invited for assessments in due course, following completion of a questionnaire."

Kath Holbourn, director of nursing and service development at the trust, said: "This is excellent news for hearing impaired patients. This funding will allow us to significantly improve the already excellent service we provide."

The trust has received the cash boost as part of a major Department of Health initiative, partly funded and supported by Warrington and Halton Primary Care Trusts.

The issue of digital hearing aids came to the fore back in October 2002 when Warrington North MP Helen Jones registered her support for a campaign by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID).

The RNID were arguing that analogue hearing aids based on 1970s technology are still common in the NHS and that digital hearing aids should be available across the country.