Hidden Hearing is one of the UK’s largest hearing care specialists. Founded in 1968 as a small, family-run business, Hidden Hearing now has over 75 high street hearing centres and runs more than 260 hearing clinics from other healthcare practices. The company provides expert audiology services, including hearing tests, ear wax removal, and the fitting of advanced hearing aids – and serves a diverse range of patients.
To meet increasing demand and enhance accessibility, Hidden Hearing sought a more efficient way to secure clinical spaces for its services. The team turned to NHS Open Space (Open Space), a flexible booking solution for clinical and non-clinical spaces within NHS properties.
Before adopting Open Space, booking clinical rooms close to communities where demand was high for their services was a time-consuming and inefficient process. Hidden Hearing’s team had to manually search for and contact GP surgeries, health centres, and wellness clinics, making countless phone calls and waiting for responses. Often, the search process was frustratingly slow, with only a handful of suitable locations available after extensive effort.
Additionally, Hidden Hearing needed to optimise its service delivery. Home visits, especially in dense urban areas, were limiting the number of patients seen per day due to travel time. A more structured approach to clinic locations would improve efficiency and allow audiologists to serve more patients in a day.
Open Space provided a seamless solution for booking high-quality, clinical-grade rooms in convenient locations. When Hidden Hearing first encountered Open Space, the team were already using a space at Eastney Health Centre, in Southsea, Portsmouth, as it was transitioning onto the platform. This shift allowed them to experience the platform’s intuitive, user-friendly booking system.
Instead of making multiple phone calls and conducting exhaustive searches, Hidden Hearing could now:
Through regular communication with the Open Space team, Hidden Hearing could also plan ahead for upcoming property additions and align them with areas of high patient demand.
Adopting Open Space has significantly improved Hidden Hearing’s operational efficiency and service delivery. The benefits include:
As Hidden Hearing continues to expand — providing all appointments and GP referrals free of charge, running life-changing initiatives such as their Give Back Programme, which donates a free set of hearing aids each month, and delivering essential ear care nationwide — Open Space remains a vital part of their strategy, ensuring accessibility and convenience for both patients and clinicians.
For healthcare providers looking for an efficient, flexible, and scalable way to secure clinical spaces, Open Space is a game-changer. Hidden Hearing’s experience highlights how the platform not only simplifies operations but also enhances patient care by improving accessibility and efficiency.
As Deborah Hollman from Hidden Hearing puts it: