SA Paediatric Cochlear Implant Program Review

Two reviews of the South Australian Paediatric Cochlear Implant Program at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital were commissioned after a number of children had potential issues with implant mapping.

Children with the potential issue were able to hear through the implant, however it is possible they may not have been hearing at the optimal level for their specific condition.

Independent Governance Review

The Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW) commissioned an external review (PDF 1.1MB) to understand the issues that caused the under mapping to occur, to identify measures to strengthen the current systems and processes within the cochlear implant program, and to make sure it does not happen again in the future.

The Report was released on 21 August 2023, which included 59 recommendations.

All recommendations have been accepted and will be implemented.

If you have any questions about the external review, you can email Health.DHWClinicalGovernanceEnquiries@sa.gov.au.

Independent clinical review

An external clinical review, which involves all children and young people from 2006 onwards identified as potentially being affected, is underway.

The independent clinical review team is scheduling clinical assessments for impacted children as part of the clinical review for families who want to participate.

Payments

All children who have been a part of the program since 2006 will be eligible for a payment.

Children and families may have experienced undue expenses, as well as significant stress and inconvenience due to the possibility they could have been under mapped. This payment is in recognition of the impact on these families.

Children who have been under-mapped will receive $50,000, which does not replace a family’s right to pursue further compensation.

Families whose children have not been under-mapped will be entitled to $5,000.

Please complete the Payment Application Form.

Further information and contact details

If your child has been part of this program and you have any questions or concerns, or if you have general questions about the reviews, payments, or anything else related to the program, contact 08 8155 5635. This phone line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.