Deaf woman allegedly went five days without BSL interpreter in ‘worst hospital experience’ (with BSL video)

The family of a 60-year-old Deaf woman have accused a London NHS Trust of violating her human rights, after she was allegedly kept in hospital for five days without access to a sign language interpreter.

To watch a BSL version of this article, signed by Abigail Gorman, click play below or scroll down to continue in English:

Patsy Palmer (née Gorman) was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital on 6 July, but was only discharged on 11 July, in what she described as the “worst hospital experience”.

She said: “To be left in hospital for days with no way of communicating with doctors, nurses, anyone. No access to information about what was happening to me, my health or treatment.

“It was scary, shocking and demoralising.

“It was clear that staff did not understand what rights deaf people have. There was no effort to ensure that access to information should be a priority.

“We have laws and regulations in place to protect us but there is no clear line of responsibility or accountability.”

Ms Palmer’s daughter claims British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters couldn’t be provided by the hospital because requests to interpreting agency The Big Word were made with only several hours’ notice.

She went on to allege her mother was “in some ways” being “held hostage” by the Trust, as a lack of accessible information meant Ms Palmer was unable to be discharged.

While one BSL interpreter was booked on 8 July, daughter Abigail Gorman told The Limping Chicken that a poor connection meant the video feed kept freezing, meaning no information was conveyed to Ms Palmer.

On 11 July, Ms Gorman contacted doctors at 9:30am to confirm a meeting between medical staff and Ms Palmer was due to go ahead at 12pm that day, which they did.

However, after contacting The Big Word, the daughter claims the company said they could not provide an interpreter because a request was made at 9:54am that day, when they require two weeks’ notice.

The Big Word has been approached for comment.

Ms Gorman told The Limping Chicken: “It is essential that frontline staff are educated and trained on the needs of deaf people to ensure that this doesn’t happen in the future. It should not be happening now – for most people this kind of treatment is unimaginable.

“The current interpreting contracts in hospitals do not meet the needs of deaf people. There are everyday situations like ours, or worse, emergencies where we are not able to understand our own health issues and treatment because of systemic barriers.

“This is terrifying. It is a breach of basic human rights. Deaf people deserve better, particularly when it comes to our health and matters of life and death.”

She also confirmed to The Limping Chicken that she had to arrange a BSL interpreter – who volunteered their services – to ensure her mother received information about her condition and could discharge herself.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Royal Free London told The Limping Chicken: “We are committed to ensuring effective communication and full participation with all of our patients, their relatives and carers, as we recognise how important it is for them to be understood.

“In this case we were able to provide Ms Palmer access to a British Sign Language interpreter online for a 50-minute meeting with the doctors and the nursing team looking after her and this took place without incident.

“If Ms Palmer or her family would like to raise any other concerns, we would urge them to contact us so we can investigate through our formal complaints process.”

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.