As we begin this new year, we wanted to look back on 2023 to share with you our achievements and our goals for the future.
Since opening our doors for the first time on the 24th March 2023, we have helped to support over 1000 people with their hearing. And we want to take the time to thank everyone that chose us as their hearing care provider. We will never take your business for granted.
What have we achieved in 2023?
Our boutique clinic was created with the goal of becoming part of the local community as the place to go for hearing care. To achieve this, we have:
- Supported local societies, businesses, and charities, such as:
- Facilitating a free tinnitus support group at Revival Café
- Introducing lipreading classes for the community
- Partnering with Ossie’s fish bar to offer free chips to new clients that come in for a hearing test
- Sponsoring a concert with Whitstable Music Society
- Becoming a patron for Whitstable Choral Society
- Sponsoring hole 3 at Chestfield Golf Club for five years
- Ensured ethical clinical recommendations and full transparency on our pricing by:
- Fixing our margins across all manufacturers and products. No matter the manufacturer or the complexity of technology, our clinicians will always recommend the most suitable product without the influence of business margins.
- Focusing on providing exceptional hearing care, and not ‘selling’ hearing aids. Because we don’t have targets or incentives, our clinicians’ recommendations are never influenced by money.
- Separating the cost of the technology from the cost of service. We itemise our invoices so that our clients can see exactly what they have paid for and can put a value to our time and professionalism.
- Developed speciality services through further professional development and state-of-the-art equipment. We have:
- Begun the process of specialising in musicians hearing services. We are already registered with the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) and will soon be partnered with Harley Street Hearing as part of their Musicians Hearing Services initiative. This will give fantastic discounts to individuals that work in the performing arts.
- Slowly expanded our tinnitus support services. This is an area of special interest for our lead audiologist. He has master’s level certification in tinnitus rehabilitation and has extensive experience with one-to-one and group support sessions.
- Recently invested in specialist extended range headphones, so we can test up to double the usual range of hearing. This is particularly useful for testing hearing with musicians and individuals with tinnitus.
Pricing review
You will be pleased to read that we have reviewed our pricing and we are happy with our positioning in the market. We remain very competitive whilst offering unrivalled facilities and services.
Our goals for 2024
We recognise that a business is only as good as it’s weakest point. So wherever possible, we will aim to improve ourselves. Our goals for this year include:
- Expanding our team to include a Hearing Care Assistant
- Expanding our paediatric hearing services
- Expanding our telehealth services
By expanding our team, we can improve continuity of service delivery in the absence of our sole audiologist. And by expanding our remote service offering we can reach more people in the community and beyond.
Summary
For us 2023 will be one to remember. It was when a dream of opening our clinic became a reality and we haven’t looked back since. We have been working hard behind the scenes to be the best we can be. Every day is a day of learning and development for our small family run business and we look forward to continuing this growth throughout 2024.
We wish you all the best for the year ahead and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Kind Regards,
Adam & Amy Chell
Co-founders of Whitstable Hearing