Hundreds of patients in South East Cornwall who use the Regional Hearing Specialists Ltd (RHS) have been told they will have to find another NHS provider. The company saw its last patients at the end of April at its Saltash Audiology Centre, and blamed changes within the NHS as its reason for no longer providing its services. The company’s board said it regretted having to inform patients, carers and other stakeholders it was planning to cease providing adult hearing services on behalf of NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in all of its contracted areas. It said it had pulled out of the NHS for commercial and economic reasons leaving it unable to continue to provide, maintain and improve services of the level and quality it has delivered in the past. A statement said: ‘The Qualified Provider Scheme for NHS adult hearing services was set up to deliver quality, innovative hearing care closer to home, for all patients aged over 55 who have acquired age related hearing loss. However, changes to tariffs, selection criteria for NHS hearing aid entitlement and priorities to CCG budgets have made it impossible for RHS to continue to offer in the future, the same levels of care and services it has delivered .’ A spokesperson for NHS Kernow CCG said: ‘We were notified by a provider of adult hearing assessments, hearing aids and aftercare, that they were stopping delivering these services in Saltash and Truro at the end of April. We have written to patients to inform them of the changes and apologise for any inconvenience.’