Meeting the Communication and Information Needs of People with a Sensory Loss when Accessing our Healthcare Services.

Did you know, around 116, 270 people living in Wales have a visual impairment and around 642, 588 people have a hearing impairment? This means that we are likely to have people with sensory loss in our care daily.

The All-Wales Standards for Accessible Communication and Information for People with Sensory Loss require all health boards to ensure that the communication and information needs of people with sensory loss are met when accessing healthcare services.  The Health Board has several initiatives and best practices against the Standards but are not consistently met by all services.

To fully implement the Standards, a Sensory Loss Friendly Self-Assessment Checklist has been collaboratively developed and piloted within Hywel Dda. Through this Programme we will work in partnership with the third sector such as Llais and other stakeholders to further develop the Checklist and design a “Sensory Loss Friendly Accreditation Scheme” that will enable all service areas, i.e. hospital wards, outpatient areas, and GP practices, to provide accessible services for all.  We will test the Checklist/Scheme with three new service areas within or outside the Health Board. Using feedback mechanisms and outcome measures we will evidence the improved confidence among members of staff to assess their patient areas and introduce changes to support patients/carers with sensory loss. It will help provide consistent and equitable healthcare as well as improved patient experience for people with sensory loss. It will make patients/carers feel valued, reduce inconsistencies in the level of support they receive, and prevent missed/delayed appointments due to inaccessible communication or lack of interpretation support.  It will help health boards save money  and ensure communication with patients/carers is right  first time and prevent potential complaints .