Health and care partner organisations across Worcestershire have come together to focus on bridging the gap in healthcare accessibility for people who are d/Deaf.
The d/Deaf working group partnership was formed following the recognition of inequalities in accessing a variety of services and in health care outcomes for our local d/Deaf population.
The word ‘deaf’ with a lower case ‘d’ is often used to describe a person who does not hear very much, or identifies as hard of hearing. A capital ‘D’ for Deaf generally describes someone who has been Deaf their whole lives, and who often uses British Sign Language (BSL) as their first or primary language. Identifying as Deaf is to be part of the close knit community, culture and shared language used and is an important differentiation.
The partnership, which includes Worcestershire County Council, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Healthwatch Worcestershire, and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board, worked together to share expertise, knowledge and findings as well as track outcomes.
Previous focus groups and engagement sessions led by partners and a Worcestershire County Council-led group of ‘experts by experience’ informs the partnership and has led to a communications drive to help d/Deaf people find statutory providers across the county and understand where British Sign Language (BSL) provision is available and where to seek support.
This work is one of two Public Health partnership initiatives selected as Finalists in the 2024 Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards.
Councillor Karen May, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said: “The Public Health team works tirelessly to identify new initiatives to tackle inequalities and to find new ways to keep people in Worcestershire healthy. These accolades stand as a testament to their unwavering commitment and excellent partnership working.”
Sarah Shingler, Chief Nursing Officer at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted that these worthy projects have been shortlisted for awards. We are committed to working with health, social care and third sector partners across the county to improve health outcomes for the wider population and are thrilled that these two initiatives which have enabled us to share ideas, approaches and resources in new ways have been recognised. We’re looking forward to continuing to build on the good work.”