Deaf health charity SignHealth and online interpreting company InterpreterNow have together launched BSLHealthAccess to provide on-demand remote BSL interpreting during the coronavirus crisis.
The service will enable immediate, on-demand access to British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters for communication with Deaf people in health settings and it will be free of charge.
The service has been set up to fill gaps in BSL interpreter provision so that interpreting can be provided when it’s most needed.
There has been concern in the Deaf community that it may be difficult for Deaf patients to communicate with health professionals if they need treatment during the coronavirus crisis, especially if PPE is being worn by doctors and nurses.
For the time being, SignHealth has agreed to pay for the service, so that it can begin immediately. However, they hope that the NHS or another government body will pay for the service.
More than 70,000 Deaf people across the UK use British Sign Language (BSL) to communicate as their first and preferred language, but Deaf people’s health is already much poorer than hearing people’s. Deaf people often rely on asking family and friends to interpret for them but they can’t do that with the current social distancing and stay at home policies.
James Watson-O’Neill, SignHealth Chief Executive, says:
“I am proud that SignHealth has agreed to fund this service and look forward to it being funded by the public sector in due course. Deaf people must be able to access healthcare, whether to visit their GP, have a scan during pregnancy or be treated in intensive care for coronavirus. We should all be able to talk to our doctors and nurses, and for them to talk to us.”
Andrew Dewey, Sign Language Interactions, says:
“I am delighted that InterpreterNow is able to provide access to a video BSL/English interpreter, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week for the BSL community’s Health Care needs. At a time when there is less access to face to face interpreting and with more healthcare services only being provided over the phone, the BSL community and health professionals can still use an interpreter by simply downloading the InterpreterNow App or by using a PC and clicking on the ‘BSLHealthAccess’ website.”
You can access the service here: BSLHealthAccess
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Hartmut Teuber
April 16, 2020
Has this telephone interpreting service in existence for any calls between Deaf BSL users and Hearing people? If so, who funds it?
In the USA and Canada this service has been in existence for over 40 years. It is funded by a surcharge of between 50 and 85 cents on each phone, including mobile ones. This is to reinforce the concept that this intermediate interpreting service must constitute a part of the normal operational costs. It should not be funded by the NHS, nor from tax money, nor by charity, because deafness is NOT a disease, is a variety of a human being, like color skin or of a different ethnicity. It is simply an access issue to which the whole citizenry is responsible.