BROMSGROVE MP Julie Kirkbride is supporting a call in Parliament for the introduction of hearing screens for all new-born babies in the UK.

The motion was tabled after research commissioned by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), found that nine-out-of-ten UK adults support early screening.

In December, the Government announced the first 20 health authorities to pilot the screen --Worcestershire is not included in the list.

Early identification by Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening (UNHS) enables immediate educational and language support to be given to the deaf child and the parents.

The current method, called the Health Visitor Distraction Test, misses 75 per cent of the 840 children born deaf each year.

It cannot take place until the baby is at least eight-months-old and can sit up and turn its head.

Miss Kirkbride, whose first child, Angus, was born last year, said: "I will continue to campaign for the national roll-out of new-born hearing screening so deaf children born in Bromsgrove and throughout the country will also benefit.

"It is also vital the Government now begins to encourage health and education authorities to work together to provide deaf children identified by the screen with appropriate follow-up support."