Deaf News: Deaf people can now contact Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman in BSL

Posted on September 2, 2014 by



The Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman (PHSO) have signed up to the SignVideo BSL Live service to make it easier for BSL users to contact them.

On their main page at www.ombudsman.org.uk you will find a ‘Video link for BSL users’. When you click on it, you will be connected to a professional, qualified and fully confidential SignVideo BSL interpreter who relays your call to the PHSO.

Watch this story in BSL by pressing ‘play’ below:

PHSO’s role is to investigate complaints where people have been treated unfairly or have received poor service from government departments, other public organisations, and the NHS in England.
Watch a BSL video explaining the PHSO’s service in more depth: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WXfqw1bDZE
SignVideo Founder Jeff McWhinney said:
‘I am pleased that the PHSO has, for the first time, given deaf BSL users a fully accessible and direct phone service in our own language. Now like anyone else, we, deaf people who use BSL can connect to the PHSO via SignVideo, a live BSL/English video interpreting service that has been led on and developed by deaf people, to ask for advice or find out if they are able to investigate into our complaint.  The PSHO are to be congratulated for showing the way ahead and we hope that the Government and the Health Services will follow their example and bring in an online video interpreting service to open up their services to us.’
Today’s organisations strive to be inclusive rather than unintentionally exclude people from accessing their services. Examples of organisations which already offer the SignVideo BSL Live service include Sky, BT, Vodafone, Lloyds Bank, Barclays, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Equality and Human Rights Commission, and councils such as Bristol, Derby and Manchester.
For more information about the BSL Live service, email ask@signvideo.co.uk, BSL video call http://ask.signvideo.co.uk or phone  020 8463 1120.

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Posted in: deaf news