Trust did not provide BSL interpreters
Summary
The Trust did not meet national standards to arrange BSL interpreters during a Deaf patient’s hospital stay. This caused distress for the patient and his extended family.
The complaint
Jen complained about the care her Deaf father received at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust between June and September 2021. She said the Trust did not arrange regular British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters during his hospital admissions, despite BSL being his first language and his written English being limited.
Jen also complained the Trust inappropriately used her children to interpret sensitive medical information, including discussions about her father’s prognosis and end-of-life decisions. She said this caused her family additional stress and distress at an already difficult time and affected their ability to grieve after her father died in September 2021.
What we found
We found the Trust did not provide regular interpreters for Jen’s father despite knowing he was Deaf and had limited written English. During his two-month stay in hospital, the Trust only arranged interpreters on three occasions. This meant he was not always able to say if he was in pain or needed anything.
The Trust regularly used family members to interpret, including Jen’s children, and relied on written communication. This was not appropriate and did not follow NHS guidance. Guidance says patients should be offered an interpreter if they have difficulties speaking or understanding English. It also strongly discourages relying on family members as interpreters. Using children as translators can cause them harm by exposing them to complex and distressing medical scenarios.
‘The details of this case are entirely unjust and unacceptable, yet sadly unsurprising. We know from our research and campaigning work in this area that the levels of communication support and access to healthcare information for deaf communities and those with hearing loss are often woefully lacking.’ - Victoria Boelman, Director of Insight and Policy at RNID
Putting things right
We recommended the Trust should write to Jen to accept what it got wrong and apologise for how this affected her and her family.
We also recommended it should pay Jen £750 to recognise the distress, frustration and worry it caused her, as well as £900 each to Jen’s two children.
We said the Trust should make an action plan explaining what it will do to stop this from happening to another family. We said it should share the plan with Jen, the Care Quality Commission and NHS England.
‘Too often there is a lack of interpreters in healthcare settings all over the UK, I have experienced it myself when being referred by GPs. There needs to be more awareness about the barriers faced by Deaf people and things need to change.’ - Jen
Following our investigation, the Trust took action to make sure there was organisation-wide learning. This included providing guidance to all ward staff and presentations on Jen’s experience to several forums. It also improved its process for booking BSL interpreters on its website and added a section on communication needs to its admission form.