Hearing aid battery recall may affect Harrogate area patients

A batch of hearing aid batteries have been recalled by the manufacturer due to a low risk of the items exploding during use or if depleted.

ZeniPower mercury-free hearing aid batteries with the product code of A13 MF and a best before date of either ‘08-2018’ or ‘09-2018’ are subject to a manufacturing fault resulting in a ‘low risk’ of the batteries exploding.

The manufacturers say the warning as a ‘precautionary measure’ as no adverse incidents resulting in an injury have been reported.

Patients at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT) may have been given these batteries from October 2015 onwards at either Harrogate District Hospital or Ripon Community Hospital. Patients are being contacted individually, but anyone who has received batteries since October 2015 is being asked to check them.

HDFT also supplies hearing aid batteries to local GP practices. Therefore patients who have received batteries from GP practices in Harrogate and Rural District (listed below) should also check what they have.

Batteries should be returned to the Audiology departments at Harrogate District Hospital or Ripon Community Hospital or to GP receptions.

If any HDFT patients have queries they should contact their local Audiology service.

Dr Kat Johnson, Clinical Director for Elective Care at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said:

This is a precautionary measure instigated by the manufacturer, ZeniPower. We ask that patients who have a hearing aid and have received new batteries as specified from us since October 2015 stop using them and return them to us. This only affects a smaller number of patients – the majority of our audiology patients have different brands or battery types.

The practices that HDFT supplies with hearing aid batteries are: