The Southern Cochlear Implant Programme (SCIP) is pleased to mark an important new chapter for cochlear implant services in Aotearoa New Zealand with the establishment of the Aotearoa Cochlear Implant Programme (ACIP).
ACIP is the new national programme for publicly funded cochlear implant services, bringing together SCIP and The Hearing House within a nationally coordinated service.
For more than 20 years, SCIP has provided specialist cochlear implant services across the South Island and lower North Island. During that time, thousands of New Zealanders and their whānau have been supported through assessment, cochlear implantation, rehabilitation, audiology and lifelong care.
“For SCIP, ACIP represents an opportunity to take what we have learned over more than two decades of providing cochlear implant services and contribute that experience to a genuinely national programme,” says SCIP Chief Executive Neil Heslop.
“It gives us the opportunity to work more closely with our colleagues at The Hearing House, while keeping the relationships, specialist expertise and local connections that are so important to the people and whānau we support.”
Together, SCIP and The Hearing House bring considerable clinical experience and specialist knowledge to ACIP. The new programme provides a national framework through which that expertise can be shared, while allowing both organisations to build on their established strengths.
What does ACIP mean for SCIP clients and whānau?
For people currently receiving services from SCIP, our message is simple: your care continues.
Our clinical teams will continue to provide the specialist services and support our clients and whānau know and trust. People will continue to see SCIP teams through our Christchurch and Wellington clinics and our network of regional and visiting services.
That includes support throughout the cochlear implant journey – from assessment and surgery through activation, rehabilitation and habilitation, audiology, device support and ongoing lifelong care.
While ACIP represents an important change in how cochlear implant services are organised nationally, it does not change the commitment SCIP has made to the communities we serve.
Instead, it provides an opportunity to strengthen those services through greater national coordination, shared expertise and closer collaboration.
Looking to the future
The establishment of ACIP gives New Zealand an opportunity to build on the considerable experience developed within its cochlear implant services over many years.
For SCIP, it is both a continuation of our work and the beginning of something new.
“Our focus has always been on helping people with severe to profound hearing loss participate more fully in their families, communities, education and workplaces,” says Neil.
“That does not change with ACIP. What does change is our opportunity to work together nationally – sharing expertise, improving consistency and making sure New Zealanders can continue to access high-quality cochlear implant services wherever they live.”
We are proud of what SCIP and our communities have built over the past two decades, and we look forward to bringing that experience to ACIP and to the next chapter of cochlear implant services in Aotearoa.
Visit the Aotearoa Cochlear Implant Programme website: acip.co.nz