you said, we did - Bristol - Healthwatch Bristol

YOU SAID, WE DID: ACCESSING HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE SERVICES BY THE DEAF, DEAFENED AND HARD OF HEARING COMMUNITIES IN BRISTOL AND SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE. View this report as a BSL video at: https://vimeo.com/208700627/8d419edb0d

Background: Healthwatch Bristol and South Gloucestershire with Bristol City Council organised a consultation event on Wednesday 27 April 2016 for people who are D/deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and deafblind to come together and give feedback about their experiences of health and social care services. People attended and spoke about services in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset (BANES), Somerset and Wiltshire. Healthwatch liaised with both Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council to promote and deliver the event. Following the event, a report was produced which summarised the key themes in the feedback and recommendations for how services could respond. Watch a BSL video of the report here: https://vimeo.com/174488962

You said: From the feedback you shared, we identified three key themes: Theme 1: A lack of consistency in the availability of interpreter services for GP and hospital appointments, especially when the appointment is needed at short notice. There is also a lack of communication between GPs and hospitals with regards to the patient’s need for an interpreter. Theme 2: Patients reported difficulties in communicating with their GP Practice, for example with a receptionist, when trying to book an appointment and an interpreter. This was especially problematic when the patient needed to contact their GP in an urgent situation. Theme 3: Services, equipment and treatment within hospital settings were reported as not being accessible. Since the event in April 2016, health and social care services across England have been working to make their services more accessible in line with the Accessible Information Standard. The Accessible Information Standard aims to make sure that The Care Forum is a registered charity No. 1053817 and a company limited by guarantee in England No. 3170666

people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are provided with information that they can easily read or understand with support so they can communicate effectively with health and social care services. More information is available here: http://www.deaflink.org.uk/news/108-accessibleinformation-standards-bsl

We did: Healthwatch Bristol has asked service providers across Bristol and the surrounding areas to update us and you on what they’ve been doing to respond to your feedback. This is what they said: What is University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol) doing to meet the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard?  Different parts of UH Bristol are doing different things to support people with additional communication needs. UH Bristol is currently gathering information about the range of resources used across the Trust and will then look at how to spread good practice and fill any gaps.  UH Bristol is developing its IT system to enable information about a person’s communication needs to be shared. This includes trialling a flag system which will alert staff if the patient has additional communication needs.  UH Bristol has agreed to pilot the use of a video BSL interpretation service as an extension of the interpreting services it already purchases from Sign Solutions.  UH Bristol is increasing the number of electronic referrals it uses and is considering how information about access needs is included in these referrals.  The Children’s Hospital is trailing using a magnet by a patient’s bed which has a picture of a passport on it. This magnet will prompt staff to look at the patient’s passport to see what they have recorded as their needs/ important information about them. What is Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (AWP) doing to meet the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard?  AWP runs ‘Deafness and Mental Health’ training (which includes a component on communication support) and also training on ‘Using Interpreters in mental health settings’ on a regular basis for staff.  AWP has identified the need for and will produce a poster for service user waiting/reception areas highlighting peoples’ rights to good communication support.

The Care Forum is a registered charity No. 1053817 and a company limited by guarantee in England No. 3170666

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The AWP BSL space (an online resource for patients) provides information for patients about AWP services. The BSL space is being added to in reference to the AIS. W: http://www.awp.nhs.uk/bslspace/ AWP Specialised Services have funded a second cohort of AWP staff from diverse teams and services to do a BSL Level 1 course – feedback form first cohort was very positive. Plans are to repeat this training every year offering it first to Champions for Deaf People. Trust is planning to review with IT means by which to relay filmed care plans to service users without breaching Information Governance legislation (this is in recognition of the fact that DVDs are no longer used by all). Deaf Wellbeing groups are running bimonthly in Bristol and Bath to ensure that health and wellbeing promotion schemes are inclusive of D/deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind people and provide an ongoing forum for feedback on access to mental health services.

What is Bristol Community Health (BCH) doing to meet the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard? So far, Bristol Community Health has:  worked in partnership with colleagues and volunteers from Action on Hearing Loss to work on a training video for their staff as part of the elearning mandatory module for AIS roll out across the organisation;  started planning additional face-to-face training with Action on Hearing Loss volunteers to deliver face-to-face training in two of their community health venues, that respond to huge numbers of patients and service users each week (the Walk-in Centre, based in the Broadmead shopping area and the Urgent Care Centre, based in South Bristol’s Community Hospital);  developed joint plans to work with Action on Hearing Loss Volunteers to give out Hearing Advice sessions to BCH Volunteers – all planned for March 2017.  produced a Resource Pack for all staff to raise awareness about; communication top tips for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind;  planned further partnership work including looking at the procurement of aids/adaptations, as part of the wider organisational AIS steering group to be delivered across all community venues and buildings;  as part of BCH’s commitment to The Deaf Health Charter, had initial discussions about the role of supporting any deaf or hard of hearing colleagues within the organisational to become Champions, as well as exploring a possible Board member to champion and advocate at a senior level about the needs of people with sensory support needs, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing. What is North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) doing to meet the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard?


NBT told Healthwatch: “We are meeting with members of the Deaf community on the evening of 28th February to hear more about their experiences. We are very aware that in many cases these are not what they should be for which we sincerely apologise. We are already working on several matters, that have been brought to our attention, to seek improvement. We are looking forward to our meeting and developing a partnership to help Deaf people access our services effectively and have the right information”  NBT is reviewing how effective their IT system is at identifying a person’s communication needs and then ensuring that staff use this information to meet the person’s needs.  NBT has a contact with Sign Solutions that all staff can access to request BSL Interpretation services. The responsiveness of that service was reviewed by the Trust in December 2016 with subsequent improvement. Ongoing monitoring is in place. NBT will liaise with UH Bristol as they use the same service.  NBT will also review what training is given to staff in understanding and meeting the needs of D/deaf, hard of hearing and Deafblind people. What are GPs doing to meet the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard? Healthwatch contacted One Care Consortium, which is a GP-led organisation that represents practices in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, and Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group to find out what GPs are doing to meet the requirements of the AIS. One Care Consortium shared this request for information with all GP Practices. Healthwatch Bristol has not, as of 24 February 2017, received any responses from GP Practices. Healthwatch will continue to work with GP Practices to monitor the implementation of the AIS and will provide updates to the public via our quarterly Feedback Feed Forward reports.

Next steps Healthwatch is continuing to work closely with members of the public, service providers, commissioners and voluntary and community sector organisations to monitor and support the implementation of the AIS. If you have feedback to share about your experiences of accessing health and social care services, contact Healthwatch Bristol. If you live outside of Bristol, contact us and we will put you in touch with your local Healthwatch.

More information To find out more about the Accessible Information Standard, please watch this BSL video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no1A7f-Ofp8


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