At Barts Health, we are improving the experiences of our d/Deaf patients, starting with a pilot at The Royal London and Mile End hospitals where we are trialing ways to reduce barriers to outpatient services.
In May 2021, we held a joint focus group with deafPLUS to explore what these experiences and barriers to access were. Patients with hearing impairments reported difficulties with:
- Communicating with the service, including only phone options being available
- Understanding communications from the hospital
- Lack of sign language interpreters during consultations
As it stands, our d/Deaf or hard of hearing patients experience poorer quality communications than others when receiving treatment. Good quality communication is particularly important when we are providing our patients with a diagnosis, providing treatment or giving post-discharge instructions and information.
Using feedback from our initial focus group, we are making changes and introducing measures to make these experiences easier and more accessible.
How are we improving experiences?
- Invested in 140 hospital communication books for inpatient wards, which will aid communication for people with a variety of needs
- 50 pre-hospital communication guides for A&E and outpatient areas
- Trialing 100 food/drink keyrings for quick and easy nutrition and hydration needs · Setting up a d/Deaf improvement group, and we are actively looking for participants
- Fully qualified registered BSL interpreters booked through the Newham Language Shop
- 24/7 BSL video interpreting through Sign Live
We can also communicate via email or chat for patients who are unable to contact us on the phone:
Our next steps
- Look at how we identify hearing impaired patients and to see how we can improve this
- Raising staff awareness on how we can better support patients
- Establish a hard of hearing patient user group
In order to continue to improve our services, we need to work together with our d/Deaf patients. If you would like to get involved with the improvement group, get in touch