I've Managed a Care Home for 15 Years. Here's What I Wish Every Family

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I've Managed a Care Home for 15 Years. Here's What I Wish Every Family Knew Before Spending a Penny on Hearing Aids

Published by Claire Barlow | Health | Last update: Apr 13 👁 8,257 📖 5 min

My name is Claire Barlow. I'm 41 and I've managed a care home in Yorkshire for fifteen years.

I should tell you something about Yorkshire before I go any further. We have one of the longest NHS audiology waiting lists in England. In October 2024, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals were forced to pause significant parts of their audiology service — including routine hearing assessments and hearing aid fittings — to address serious issues with IT systems, equipment and clinical spaces. While some of those services have since returned in a phased approach, the backlog built during that period remains significant. Patients who were already waiting found themselves waiting longer still, with no clear end date in sight.

I tell you this not to criticise the NHS — the staff working within it are doing their best under impossible pressure. I tell you this because it is the backdrop against which everything I'm about to describe happened. When I talk about residents waiting fourteen months for hearing aids, I'm not talking about an exceptional case. In Yorkshire, that is a routine one.

In that time I've watched hearing loss do something that most families don't see coming. Not the hearing loss itself — the isolation that follows it. The slow withdrawal from conversations, from family visits, from the connections that make daily life feel worth living.

I've watched residents arrive full of personality and gradually retreat. I've watched families visit with the best intentions and leave frustrated and sad without quite understanding why the visit felt so difficult.

Most of the time, the answer was sitting in a drawer. Or hooked over an ear that nobody could quite hear out of. Or on a waiting list that had already stretched past a year.

I started paying proper attention to hearing aids about three years ago, after watching a resident called Patricia.

Patricia is 79. Sharp as anything — crosswords every morning, strong opinions about the news, a dry sense of humour that catches you off guard. When her daughter Karen visits on Sundays there are usually four or five of them around the table in the day room. It should be the highlight of her week.

I watched those visits from the corridor more times than I can count.

Karen talks. Her husband talks. The grandchildren talk over each other the way grandchildren do. And Patricia sits at the centre of it all — smiling, nodding, laughing when everyone else laughs — and misses most of it.

Afterwards I'd sit with her.

"Good visit?" I'd ask.

"Lovely," she'd say. Always lovely.

But I could see the quiet exhaustion of someone who had spent two hours performing engagement rather than experiencing it. The particular sadness of a woman surrounded by the people she loves most and still somehow alone in the room.

Patricia had been through the NHS waiting list. Fourteen months in Yorkshire. When her aids finally arrived they were behind-the-ear — the standard kind. She'd tried Amazon after that. Her daughter had been quietly saving toward Boots for nearly a year — and Patricia knew, having overheard a phone call Karen didn't realise she could partially hear. She'd been carrying that weight for months. Not wanting to cost her daughter £2,500. Not knowing there was another way.

Watching Patricia made me realise I'd been watching versions of the same story for years without ever examining it properly.

So I did something I should have done much sooner.

The audit

Over the following months I sat down properly with every resident in our home who had hearing loss. 43 residents in total. I asked them about their hearing aids — what they had, how they'd got them, what was working, what wasn't. I spoke to their families. I went back through notes and conversations I'd had over years and started seeing patterns I'd never connected before.

What I found was not what I expected.

Not because the information was surprising — most of it confirmed what I'd been watching without fully understanding. But because seeing it laid out across 43 people made the picture impossible to ignore.

Here is what that picture looks like.

NHS Hearing Aids — Free

Of the 43 residents I assessed, 31 had received NHS hearing aids at some point. Fourteen of them were still wearing them regularly. Seventeen had either stopped wearing them entirely or were wearing them inconsistently.

The NHS uses decent technology. The same manufacturers supply the NHS and the private clinics — that's worth saying clearly. But in Yorkshire the wait is not 6 to 18 months. For many of our residents it has been considerably longer. Several waited over a year simply for their first assessment appointment — before the fitting process had even begun. One resident waited 22 months from GP referral to receiving her hearing aids. She was 77 when she was referred. She was nearly 79 when they arrived.

In that time people miss things. Conversations. Family moments. The slow withdrawal I described happens quietly during those months and it's very hard to reverse once it sets in.

When the aids arrive they are almost always behind-the-ear. The large kind with a tube that hooks over the ear. Batteries every three to four days. One volume setting for most environments. Visible to everyone.

They work. I want to be fair — they work. But of the 31 residents in my audit who had received NHS aids, more than half were no longer wearing them consistently. The most common reasons: battery management, whistling, comfort, and the feeling of visibility.

"I waited fourteen months. When they finally arrived I was grateful. But the batteries every four days and the whistling on the phone — I just got worn down by it eventually." — resident, 74

"Mine went in the drawer after three months. Not because they were broken. Just because every day felt like a battle with them." — resident, 71

"The technology is fine. It's everything around the technology that's exhausting." — resident, 68

"I was referred in January. I got my hearing aids the following March. Fifteen months. My grandchildren grew a year and a half older while I was waiting to hear them properly." — resident, 76

Our verdict: If you can wait and the design doesn't matter, NHS aids are a reasonable starting point. But in Yorkshire the waiting period alone carries a cost that rarely gets discussed. And the dropout rate among residents I've worked with is significant — over half of those who received NHS aids were no longer wearing them consistently within a year.

Boots — Average price: £2,914 Specsavers — Average price: £2,143

The technology at the major private clinics is good. I'm not going to pretend it isn't. But the hearing aid itself — the receiver, the chip, the microphone — costs about £80 to £100 to manufacture. The rest of that £2,914 pays for the shop on the high street. The staff on commission. The area manager. The head office. The television adverts.

You are not paying £3,000 for a hearing aid. You are paying £3,000 for the privilege of buying it in a nice chair.

I've watched families make this decision in our home. I've watched them come in the following week relieved because the problem is finally solved, and I've watched them wince when they mention the price. I've also watched residents struggle with the weight of knowing what their children had spent on their behalf — the quiet guilt that comes with being expensive.

Eleven residents in my audit had hearing aids from major private clinics. Eight of them were wearing them regularly and reporting good results. But across almost all eleven cases, the financial conversation was present in some form. The saving up. The family discussion. The decision to go without something else to cover the cost.

"My daughter paid £2,800. I felt terrible about it for months. Still do sometimes." — resident, 77

"The aids are good. The price is something I try not to think about." — resident, 73

"I paid £3,200 at Boots two years ago. Later I found out there was another option. I haven't quite forgiven myself for not looking harder first." — resident, 72

"My son took out a payment plan. He hasn't mentioned it but I know. I hear more now but I carry that." — resident, 79

The technology justifies the investment for some people — particularly those with complex hearing profiles or specific listening environments. For many others, what they're paying for is the distribution network, not the device.

Our verdict: The technology is solid. The value for money is not. The financial burden on families is real and often goes unspoken. For most residents I've assessed, the performance difference between clinic aids and cheaper alternatives did not justify the price gap.

Amazon Hearing Devices — Average price: £39-£54

This is where I need to be very direct.

What Amazon sells are not hearing aids. They are amplifiers. This distinction matters enormously and most people don't understand it until they've spent money and given up on hearing aids entirely as a result.

An amplifier makes everything louder — voices, traffic, the fridge, background noise, all at the same volume. It cannot separate speech from background noise. A real hearing aid has a digital processing chip that does exactly that. That chip alone costs around £40 to £80. If you are paying £39 for the complete device, that chip is not in it.

Of the 43 residents I assessed, 19 had tried some form of device purchased online — most of them from Amazon or similar platforms. Every single one had stopped using them. Not because hearing aids don't work. Because what they tried wasn't a hearing aid.

This matters because several of those 19 residents had effectively given up on the idea of hearing aids entirely as a result of that experience. They'd tried something, it hadn't worked, and they'd concluded that hearing aids simply weren't for them. That conclusion was based on a product that was never a hearing aid to begin with.

"Everything was louder but nothing was clearer. Voices were worse, if anything." — resident, 69

"I tried three different pairs over two years. All the same. I'd given up entirely until my son found something else." — resident, 74

"My GP told me afterwards they weren't actually hearing aids. I wish someone had told me that before I ordered them." — resident, 71

"I spent £120 over eighteen months on different ones. Not one of them worked. I thought I was just too far gone for hearing aids to help." — resident, 77

If a resident or family member has tried Amazon and given up, I always make the same point: you weren't trying hearing aids. Please don't let that experience be the end of the story.

Our verdict: Avoid. The confusion between amplifiers and hearing aids is the single biggest reason people give up on solving their hearing loss. These are not the same product and should not be in the same conversation.

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Hear It Well — £149.99

This is the option I didn't know existed until my own mother found it.

My mum is 71. She lives in Yorkshire. She'd been on the NHS waiting list for eleven months with no indication of when she'd be seen. Managing. Getting by. She rang me one Tuesday evening to say she'd ordered something she'd read about online. A hearing aid company she'd come across through an article. £149.99. I told her to be careful — I've seen what failed hearing aids do to people's confidence. She told me she'd already ordered them and could I please be a bit more supportive.

She rang four days later when they arrived.

She rang the morning after she put them in.

"Claire," she said. "I can hear the birds."

She said it the way you say something when you've just realised you haven't heard it in years and hadn't noticed it was missing until it came back. I know that tone. I hear versions of it in my work sometimes — the moment something returns that someone had quietly stopped expecting to get back.

Three weeks later she was still wearing them every day. She went back to her book club for the first time in eight months. Said she'd been avoiding it because following group conversation had become too exhausting. Went along last Thursday. Followed everything.

"I'd forgotten it could be like that," she said.

After speaking to Karen — Patricia's daughter — about what my mum had experienced, she looked the company up herself and ordered that afternoon without telling Patricia. The box arrived three days later as a surprise — small box, charging case, five ear tip sizes, instructions in large print without anyone having to ask.

I was on shift when Karen brought them in. I found an excuse to be nearby.

Patricia opened the box. Looked at Karen.

"What's this?" she said.

"Hearing aids," said Karen. "Proper ones. Invisible. Rechargeable. No batteries."

"How much?"

Karen told her.

Patricia looked at the box again. Back at Karen. Something moved across her face — relief trying to find a way through without becoming something bigger in the middle of the day room.

"You daft thing," she said quietly. Affectionately. The way mothers talk to daughters when they mean something they can't quite say directly.

Karen laughed. Reached over and squeezed her hand.

I went and found something else to do.

What happened next is what made me look more closely at everything I'd been observing across our home.

Patricia's experience was immediate and positive. Within a week she was wearing them every day. Within two weeks the Sunday visits had changed completely — I watched from the corridor and saw the difference. She was following the conversation. Laughing at the right moment.

Responding to her grandchildren without asking them to repeat themselves.

She started talking about them to other residents. Quietly at first — mentioning it over lunch, in the day room, in passing conversation. Patricia is trusted here. When she says something works, people listen.

Over the following weeks eleven residents decided to try Hear It Well — either on Patricia's recommendation or after speaking to me directly about what my mum had experienced. Several of them had been on the NHS waiting list for months with no end in sight. Others had tried Amazon and given up. One had been quietly dreading the conversation with her family about the Boots price.

I've been monitoring all eleven closely.

Nine of them have now been wearing Hear It Well for five weeks or more. All nine are wearing them daily. All nine report meaningful improvement in their ability to follow conversation — in the day room, during family visits, on the telephone.

"I stopped watching people's mouths when they talked. I hadn't realised I'd been doing it until I stopped." — resident, 76

"My daughter visited last Sunday. First time in two years I followed everything she said without asking her to repeat herself once." — resident, 81

"I tried NHS aids for eighteen months. These are better. I don't know what else to say." — resident, 73

"The setup took me twenty minutes. My grandson helped me on a video call. He said it was the most useful twenty minutes he'd ever spent." — resident, 79

"I was one of the ones who'd given up after Amazon. Patricia told me that wasn't a real hearing aid. She was right." — resident, 70

"I'd been on the NHS list for nine months. No letter, no date, nothing. These arrived in four days." — resident, 75

Two residents started within the last two weeks and I'm not yet drawing conclusions on their experience. One had initial difficulty with the self-setup process — the aids require self-fitting without professional audiologist assistance, which for some older users requires patience and a family member's help. She persisted and now reports wearing them comfortably, but I want more time before calling it a confirmed result. The other is simply too early to assess meaningfully. I'll continue monitoring both.

The setup process is the one honest limitation I'd flag for families considering this option. For the majority of residents it was straightforward — most completed it within ten to twenty minutes, several with a family member's help over the phone. For a small number it required more patience. That trade-off is worth knowing about. For most families, it is not a reason not to try.

Our verdict: Comparable technology to the high street at a fraction of the price. The only thing missing is the clinic, the waiting room, and the markup. Of the eleven residents currently using Hear It Well in our home, nine have confirmed positive results after five or more weeks of daily use. That is the most consistent outcome I have observed across any hearing aid option in fifteen years of this work.

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What I'd tell every family

After fifteen years of watching hearing loss affect residents and families, and after spending the past several months looking properly at every option available across 43 residents, this is what I'd tell any family member who comes to me asking where to start.

Don't wait on a Yorkshire NHS list that may not move for another year. Don't pay £3,000 for a distribution network. Don't let a bad Amazon experience be the end of the story.

There is a middle option. It costs £149.99. It takes ten to twenty minutes to set up. It comes with 45 days at home to decide. If it doesn't work, you send it back. No questions.

Patricia found out about it because her daughter spoke to me. I found out about it because my mum rang me on a Tuesday evening and I eventually stopped telling her to be careful.

Last Sunday I watched Patricia's visit from the corridor one more time.

Karen, her husband, the grandchildren. Everyone talking at once the way families do.

Patricia was in the middle of it.

Not performing. Not nodding half a beat behind. Actually in it. Following. Laughing at the right moment.

Afterwards she passed me in the corridor.

"Good visit?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. And then: "You can stop watching from the corridor now, Claire. I know you've been doing it for months."

I laughed. She laughed.

"Good," I said.

"Yes," she said. "It is rather."

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The story of Hear It Well

The hearing aids my mum found — and that eleven residents in our home are now using — are made by a company called Hear It Well.

Founded by David Taylor, whose father was in his seventies, struggling with his hearing, unable to afford the high street on his pension and unwilling to wait over a year for the NHS. Taylor had worked in the hearing aid industry. He knew what the components cost. He built a warehouse operation in Stoke-on-Trent, cut out every layer between factory and customer, and priced them at what they should actually cost.

£149.99.

They use Knowles receivers — the same supplier used by Boots and Specsavers. Multi-channel digital signal processing. UKCA certified as a medical device. Completely invisible — fits entirely inside the ear canal. Rechargeable. No batteries.

45-day trial at home. Full refund if they don't work. One-year warranty. Free insured shipping.

IMPORTANT UPDATE

Since this article was published, Hear It Well has gained tremendous attention and interest.
The company has reached out to our editorial team to inform us that, for a limited time, they are offering our readers an exclusive 50% discount on Hear It Well.
Plus, every order comes with a 45-day risk free trial at home, 1 year warranty and free insured shipping.
If you don't experience clearer hearing within 45 days, you can just return it.

Check availability

Comments (6)

Oliver_Hayes

06 Mar, 2026 at 1:23 pm

Honestly wish I’d read this sooner. Spent over £500 trying different options that didn’t help at all. This explains things much better than any audiologist I spoke to.

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Janet_London

09 Mar, 2026 at 10:03 am

My neighbour recommended these after struggling for years. Took a chance and I’m glad I did. Not perfect, but for the price I can finally hear conversations again.

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TomB_84

12 Mar, 2026 at 11:53 am

Been using them for about a month now. Big difference when watching TV and chatting with friends. Still getting used to them but definitely worth it.

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ElaineW

23 Mar 2026 at 12:10 pm

Was very skeptical at first because of the low cost. But compared to the quotes I got locally, this felt like a no-brainer. So far, so good!

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George_MK

24 Mar, 2026 at 09:11 am

Returned my expensive pair after trying these. Can’t say they’re identical, but for everyday use they do the job just fine. Saved a lot of money.

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Clara_J

27 Mar, 2026 at 12:32 pm

Got these for my dad and he hasn’t stopped talking about them since 😂 Says he can hear the birds again in the morning. That alone made it worth it.

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