§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what facilities his Department offers to deaf people in communicating with health trusts, health authorities and primary care groups. [132102]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department has issued a range of guidance for the National Health Service on communicating with deaf and hearing impaired people. This includes "Doubly disabled: Equality for disabled people in the new NHS: access to services" together with a training video "When is it my turn?" for training and raising staff awareness of the communication needs of deaf and hearing impaired people. These were issued in April 1999.
To support implementation of Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act across the NHS, the NHS Executive issued guidance in July 1999. This guidance was informed by research conducted by "Disability Matters" on barriers faced by disabled people in the accessing the NHS. Their 753W report, which concluded that the most significant barrier faced by disabled people in accessing the NHS was staff awareness and attitudes, was issued to health authorities, NHS trusts and primary care groups. It also led to the development of a distance learning package, "Welcoming Patients to the NHS" which was launched in November 1999. All these publications included material on communicating with deaf and hearing impaired people.