Equality impact assessment

Children under 12 years is the focus of the guideline, OME being most prevalent in pre-school aged children. No adjustments to the committee processes or consultation is proposed. The committee will not include children but will include lay members who may be e.g. parents or carers of children with OME or young people who had OME as a child. Stakeholder organisations working with and advocating for children with OME will be invited to take part in the consultation as per standard NICE process. NICE has produced a guideline on babies, children and young people's experience of healthcare and this guideline will likely be referenced.

The guidelines covers children under 12 years of age. Within this age group, OME is most common in pre-school aged children.

Children with complex needs, including learning disabilities and children with sensory disorders and autism may be at an increased risk of delayed detection of OME because the impact of OME may be less apparent. For example, the inability to follow instruction at school may be attributed to a difficulty in understanding rather than to difficulty hearing. Persistent or fluctuating OME can lead to increased risk of adverse outcomes which may already be increased in these children, such as problems with learning, speech and language development, listening skills, auditory processing skills and impact on social relationships and confidence.

None identified.

None identified.

None identified.

None identified.

None identified.

None identified.

Children from families of lower socioeconomic status may be disadvantaged, for example they may have difficulties affording transport to access treatment.

Children who move between places and do not have permanent places of residence are not likely to have the same level of monitoring and treatment as their peers and could therefore end up with untreated OME.

Looked after children may have multiple placements and carers or inadequate handover of care between placements and the impact of OME on their hearing may not be recognised and managed appropriately.

What is the preliminary view on the extent to which these potential equality issues need addressing by the Committee?

The committee should consider carefully if and how inequalities in outcomes for some groups identified in box 1.2 could be addressed in the guideline. The committee should consider whether data should be analysed separately for groups where equality issues have been identified and whether separate recommendations are required on a case-by-case basis.