In 2006 Deafblind UK surveyed its membership in order to ascertain Deafblind people’s views and experiences of the NHS. The report 'Cause and Cure: Deafblind People's Experience of the NHS', comments on these findings and seeks to investigate the reasons for the health inequalities we identified.
Following the successful launch of ‘Cause and Cure’ Deafblind UK was delighted to be inundated with responses from health services eager to work with us to improve their service delivery. We have developed ‘Cause and Cure: Guidance’ as a practical guide to enable NHS services professionals to consider their current service provision for deafblind people and guide them to achieve the main recommendations of the report.
Our guidance addresses the 3 areas that would benefit all people with combined sight and hearing loss; awareness, interpreting services and accessible information. Each area has 3 levels of guidance, basic, intermediate, and advanced, with each consecutive level building on the previous level.
By following our guidance NHS services practitioners will significantly reduce the health inequalities experienced by people who are deafblind or have a combined sight and hearing loss, and help them to lead healthier and more independent lives.
We would like service providers and commissioning bodies within the NHS, to consider the barriers identified in the report and work in partnership with us, to consider how to improve service delivery in a very practical, realistic and economical way. Our aim is to enable people who are either deafblind or have a progessive sight and hearing loss to access health services on an equal basis to their sighted-hearing counterparts. If you are interested in working with Deafblind UK to look at ways to improve access to healthcare we would like to hear from you.
For more information, please contact a member of the Policy, Campaigns and Awareness team on 01733 358100 (phone and textphone) or alternatively email health@deafblind.org.uk
Kindly funded by:
