Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

A key update to the Hearing Services program, which was launched earlier this year, is the Hearing Services' online portal. The portal provides clients with faster access to services, enabling them to lodge voucher applications electronically, with the potential to receive services on the same day, which significantly reduces the waiting time for services. The portal also enables hearing service providers to manage many administrative task themselves and eliminates the use of paper forms to streamline the assessment and approval process.

Between February and June this year, more than 80,000 applications were processed through the portal. That is a significant reduction in red tape for service providers and the Department of Health. One audiologist remarked to me yesterday that the processing time for application paperwork has been reduced from seven weeks to about 40 seconds, which is improving the service and making sure that people get the help they need sooner.