A national Government directive has resulted in a number of audiologists being redeployed from their front line services to Covid-19 contact tracing duties.
The move, which is part of the HSE's latest escalation plan to respond to rising numbers of Covid-19 cases, has led to the cancellation of appointments for patients with hearing impairments, including the cancellation of some emergency appointments.
It is understood both adult and paediatric audiology services have been impacted, while correspondence seen by RTÉ Investigates shows the redeployments have resulted in some Health Service Executive divisions being reduced to a "skeleton service".