A new appalling report exposed the state of access to health services for Deaf people in Enfield, containing findings and recommendations that are relevant beyond the borough by Healthwatch Enfield and Enfield Disability Action.
BDA’s Business Development Manager, Paul Redfern welcomed the report and said: “We fully support what Liane Burn has said – it is unacceptable that Deaf people are still struggling to access health services in this day and age. And we particularly welcome their recommendations. The BDA has been liaising with Andrew Boff, Deputy Chair of the Greater London Authority’s Health Committee on this and we are waiting for his report. We have also liaised with East and North London Healthwatch to deliver the first ever ‘Enter and View’ Training for Deaf British Sign Language users. Enfield’s report will add considerable weight to the campaign for fully accessible health services for Deaf BSL users.”
Healthwatch Enfield Chief Executive, Lorna Reith, said “The experiences local Deaf people told us about were shocking. It is clear that many of them face considerable barriers to health care and are getting a poor service which puts their health at risk. We are calling on providers to act on the recommendations in this report, most of which involve little, if any, extra money.”
Liane Burn, EDA Chief Executive, said “We have been working with Deaf residents for many years and know that many of these issues have been raised before. It is now 20 years since legislation outlawing discrimination against disabled people was passed and completely unacceptable that Deaf residents should still be struggling to access services”
Download – Healthwatch Enfield’s Press Release
Download – “Improving services for Deaf patients in Enfield” – Full Report
Full report in BSL (British Sign Language):
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