Breaking Down Communication Barriers: Empowering Frontline Health and Care Staff with Basic BSL and Deaf Awareness Training
In the complex world of health and care, effective communication is paramount. For the over 10 million people in the UK living with hearing loss, clear communication can be the difference between feeling understood and feeling isolated. That’s why we’re highlighting the essential British Sign Language including Deaf Awareness training, led by the highly experienced Jacqueline Parker-Fu, designed specifically for frontline health and care staff like you.
Learn from a Leader with Lived Experience: Jacqueline Parker-Fu
This isn’t just another training course; it’s an opportunity to learn from someone with a deep personal understanding of deafness and its impact. Jacqueline Parker-Fu has been profoundly deaf since birth. Growing up in a family with both deaf and hearing members, she possesses invaluable experience of living and working in a hearing and non-hearing world.
Jacqueline brings a wealth of public sector experience spanning social services, education, mental health services, and legal services. For more than 20 years, she has been dedicated to teaching deaf awareness and BSL. Training delivered by Jacqueline means you will benefit from her personal insight and experience, gaining a richer understanding beyond textbook knowledge.
Did you know:
- BSL is a full, rich, visual language with its own grammar and structure that is different from English. It is a language in itself, different from sign languages used in other countries, and even has regional variations.
- Research has shown that many deaf people find letters from the NHS to be complex and written in a format that they don’t understand
- Making your communication style more visual can also be helpful for people who have neurological or cognitive issues
What happens when staff have basic BSL and Deaf Awareness training?
Equipping employees with basic BSL and deaf awareness skills can lead to significant positive changes within every primary care, secondary care and social care setting:
Improved patient communication: You’ll be able to communicate better with your deaf patients. By learning basic greetings you can use with your patients and basic medical terms used in practice, you can make a huge difference in making deaf people feel instantly at ease. This can help reduce feelings of isolation or frustration in our deaf patients.
Many deaf individuals rely on BSL to communicate, and with basic BSL skills, staff can directly interact with them to help them feel welcome straight away.
Enhanced patient experience: The Deaf Awareness and BSL training training will equip you with the knowledge and skills to ensure that deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals are treated with respect and dignity and have access to the same level of service as other patients.
Building trust and comfort: When patients see that your organisation values their communication needs, it can build trust and foster a sense of safety and comfort. This trust can ultimately improve their health outcomes.
Removing initial communication barriers: This course will offer insight on how to effectively remove some of the barriers faced by those with hearing loss. It’s important to remember that a proportion of deaf people cannot read English well due to various factors, making signed communication even more vital.
More efficient service delivery: Many deaf people often attend their heath and care appointments only to find out that a BSL interpreter has not been booked. The Deaf awareness training can help staff to identify where a patient is deaf and steps to be taken to book a BSL interpreter if this is needed. This results in a more efficient service delivery avoiding having to cancel appointments because no interpreter is present.
Greater awareness of the deaf experience: You will gain an understanding of the challenges faced by individuals with hearing loss.
This course is just a first step for both attendees and organisations. You will gain insight into why having access to BSL interpretation can be so valuable for deaf people and their families.
The resources below are also really helpful in developing understanding of the impact of having, and not having someone within your workplace who understands BSL or indeed having a BSL interpreter.
Find out more about the impact of deafness and hearing loss in a healthcare setting:
Other useful resources and information:
Don’t Miss This Opportunity!
Ready to break down communication barriers and enhance your patient care?
Register for the British Sign Language and Deaf Awareness training today and take a vital step towards a more inclusive healthcare environment!