As a follow-on to Norman H's posting,having gone down this route,the Doctor may refer you to a Consultant for the hearing tests but I was told NO help is given with the costs of hearing aids. A bit of a sore point as it seems a bit like highway robbery. Compared to the price of any other available technology,ie. Mobile Phones etc a hearing aid can cause serious damage to your bank balance. Start at about 1000e and keep going up if from one of the Audiology Centres. There are several cheap options advertised on the web and papers and you may do well to start off at the cheap end.Several friends have used the Private centres and ended up with a very expensive bit of kit that must cost pennies to produce.