Access to Healthcare for People with Hearing Loss

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 19 January 2022.

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Photo of Joel James Joel James Conservative 2:29, 19 January 2022

Thank you, Minister, and, as you mentioned, the all-Wales standards for accessible communication and information for people with sensory loss policy provides clear guidance on what GPs and hospitals should do to make their services more accessible for people with hearing and sight loss. It aims to make sure people with sensory loss can understand the health information they're given and have access to qualified British Sign Language interpreters or other forms of communication support during NHS appointments. Disappointingly, patients with sensory loss have reported to the group Action on Hearing Loss Cymru that they're not seeing the increased accessibility they were promised.

In 2018, a Welsh health circular stated that all relevant staff must be made aware of their responsibilities for recording such information, in order to support individuals with information and/or communication needs that are related to or caused by sensory loss. However, a Social Care Institute for Excellence survey found that, in Wales, more than half the people surveyed still leave their GP surgery unclear about their diagnosis or how to take their medication. In addition, 42 per cent of deaf BSL users say that communication at their appointments is inadequate because they don't have an interpreter and 36 per cent of survey respondents have to travel to their GP to book an appointment in person as they can't use the phone. With this in mind, would the Minister outline what action they intend to take to make sure that local health boards have mandatory induction training on sensory loss for NHS staff? And will the Minister outline what the Welsh Government proposes to do to enforce implementation of the current policy? Thank you.