SignHealth welcomes the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report highlighting the barriers deaf people continue to face when accessing healthcare and public services. The experiences outlined will be all too familiar to many deaf people, who are still being denied access to communication support, excluded from important conversations about their care, and unable to access information in a way they can understand.
Through our Still Sick Of It campaign, deaf people have been sharing these experiences for years. While we welcome this report, it is deeply frustrating that the same issues continue to be identified. Accessible communication is not a nice-to-have. It is a legal right and essential for safe, effective healthcare.
Lucy Warnes, CEO of SignHealth, said:
“The stories in this report are upsetting, but they are not surprising. Deaf people have been telling us for years about being denied interpreters, missing vital information and being excluded from decisions about their own health. Our report with RNID, Still Ignored: The Fight for Accessible Healthcare, found that seven in ten deaf people and people with hearing loss have never been asked about their communication needs by the NHS, while more than half have had to rely on family or friends to communicate at appointments. The Government’s Locked Out report reached a similar conclusion, highlighting that inaccessible communication systems and a lack of qualified interpreters continue to exclude deaf and deafblind BSL users from health and social care across the UK. The evidence is overwhelming. Deaf people have a right to understand and be understood, and services must do better.”
At SignHealth, we are working to create change through our Deaf Health Roadshow, empowering deaf people to understand and exercise their rights. We also support healthcare providers through bespoke training delivered by deaf experts, helping NHS professionals understand the barriers deaf people face and how to provide truly accessible care.
Deaf people should not have to keep fighting for equal access to healthcare and public services. These issues are not new. The evidence is clear, the law is clear, and action is long overdue. We are still sick of it.
