This brings me to my second point, the BSL Act. I, like many others, were very pleased to see that, at the end of April this year, the UK Government's BSL Bill received Royal Assent, passing into law as the British Sign Language Act 2022. For those unfamiliar with the Act, there will now be recognition of British Sign Language as an official language of England, Wales and Scotland. Whilst this is a huge milestone for deaf people, we are not out of the woods in the devolved nations. In England, the law requires the Secretary of State to report on the promotion and facilitation of the use of BSL by ministerial Government departments, and guidance must be issued in relation to BSL, setting out how Government departments and public bodies must meet the needs of deaf people in the UK. Based on those aims, the Act should improve access to interpreters, as well as enhance general awareness, and help develop BSL education. It should also help improve access to employment for deaf people. Because of the devolution settlement, Welsh Government Ministers are not subject to the reporting duty of the Act, and therefore it is entirely on the shoulders of Welsh Government Ministers here whether or not we see this benefit in Wales. I believe, in this instance, the Welsh Government needs to recognise the Act in its entirety, and take on its full reporting duties, and I would hope that all Members here in this Chamber would encourage the Welsh Government to adopt this approach.

In my final point, I want to discuss audiology services in Wales, and the potential role and impact that private audiology practitioners can make. We have an unprecedented need to clear audiology backlogs in Wales. Cardiff and Vale health board has almost 1,500 people waiting for treatment, with over 800 having waited 14 months or more for NHS audiology services. There are a further 5,000 more waiting across Wales for much-needed treatment to hear well again, and these figures have only increased since the pandemic. This particular waiting list is significant. Whilst it can be said that hearing loss is not immediately life threatening, it has a massive impact on the lives of those who are suffering, especially since age-related hearing loss is very common in Wales, with 1 per cent of the population per year of age suffering from it—that means 70 per cent of 70-year-olds and 80 per cent of 80-year olds et cetera.

The impact of age-related hearing loss goes far beyond just not being able to hear well. It leads, tragically, to social isolation, loneliness, mental ill health, dementia, and these conditions then give further rise to other health issues. Waiting more than 14 months for an assessment and hearing aids is no trivial matter if you are 80 years old with increasing cognitive decline. It places you in a highly vulnerable situation, which I have no doubt is truly terrifying for them. There is strong evidence to show that mild hearing loss doubles the risk of developing dementia, moderate hearing loss leads to three times the risk, and severe hearing loss increases the risk five times. Hearing loss is estimated to account for 8 per cent of dementia cases, as well as other long-term health problems. People with hearing loss have, over a 10-year period, a 47 per cent increased rate of hospitalisation because of increased risk for falls and depression. What stands out even further is that, if there is a timely diagnosis, then declining cognitive function can be stopped, so the 14-month waiting list to access audiology services, without a doubt, is harming people.

I questioned the First Minister on this point recently, and though I welcome his response that there needs to a building up of primary care capacity, I believe that this sole approach is short-sighted, not least because it is going to take a considerable amount of time to build up primary care capacity in an NHS that is already overstretched, but also because we have available to us well-established community audiologists that have been proven to be safe, clinically effective, liked by patients, and have been found to deliver good value for money in Ireland, England and elsewhere, and they're available on nearly every high street in Wales. We have to be mindful that we have many patients over the age of 70 who are desperate to access services. They simply cannot wait for the lengthy process of each health board undertaking pilots and recruiting directly into the service, and then having to clear the waiting lists that keep getting longer, which is a situation that I recently experienced as I had just been removed from the out-patient list that I was on because it had grown too long.

What is more absurd with this Government's approach is the fact that they already use private optometrists, pharmacists, dentists and GP practitioners in Wales to help deliver NHS primary care services. So, this Government, without any supporting evidence, is singling out audiology services and denying patients in Wales fast access to this service. Members here may not be aware, but in the most recent audit of audiology services in Wales, which, I might add, was pre COVID-19, all health boards in Wales failed to meet compliance to contact all hearing aid patients every three years to offer a reassessment appointment. All health boards also failed this criteria in 2017. Only five out of nine services met or exceeded the compliance target for each individual standard. So, we already saw, before COVID, patients not getting the audiology services that they deserve, and this situation is only getting worse.

The number of people with hearing loss is increasing. Estimates suggest that, by 2035, about 15.6 million people in the UK will have hearing loss—that's one in five of the population, compared to one in six people presently. By 2030, adult onset hearing loss will be in the top 10 of disease burdens in the UK, above cataracts and diabetes, as measured by disability-adjusted life years. Frustratingly, this Government's attitude to problems with audiology services is bizarre at best and wilfully inflicting harm at worse, especially since there is a ready-made solution in high-street community audiologists. NHS Wales already commissions primary care optometry and health boards commission community eye health services, so why is this Government singling out audiology and not applying the same approach? This, I hope, is a position that the Minister will address. Thank you, Llywydd, and thank you to everyone for taking the time to listen.