International Week of the Deaf 2023
Each year in September, one week is celebrated as International Week of D/deaf People, which was first established in 1958.
It is celebrated annually through various activities by the respective deaf communities worldwide.
The theme for 2023 was “A World Where Deaf People Everywhere Can Sign Anywhere.”
Within Northumbria Healthcare, we want to make that happen as much as possible – seen in our D/deaf Awareness programme. We’ve trained staff from 2018, giving them the communication skills and knowledge to confidently interact with D/deaf patients.
Here’s what we got up to:
Bespoke training for departments and services
Lorraine Wilkinson, Kathryn Worrell and Rebecca Love – staff members at Northumbria’s Hexham General Hospital – received bespoke training from our D/deaf awareness project officer, Margaret Robertson.
“We work in Hexham Hospital on Main Reception and in Health Records. Our roles include first point of call for patients attending the outpatient’s department, we are also the contact for general enquiries, so we communicate with most people visiting the hospital for whatever reason.
“The course was so informative, and we all said afterwards that it had given us all something to think about in our role.”
At Northumbria Healthcare, we strive to enhance communication skills across all areas of the trust, to make D/deaf patient’s experiences as positive as possible.
More staff from Northumbria Healthcare have just received their Level 1 certificate in BSL.
We’re so proud of all of the staff members who take the time to learn BSL, improving their communication skills in order to make our trust a more inclusive place.
What an amazing opportunity and insight – thoroughly recommend learning BSL
Karen Webster
Claire Marsh, an eProcurement support officer in the trust, spent a year learning BSL in order to communicate with D/deaf patients, visitors and staff.
Watch this video to find out how she did it.
Northumbria Healthcare is proud to support patients who are D/deaf.
Julie needed support from her GP after her mother passed away and was referred to Macmillan’s services. Luckily, Julie was provided an interpreter – who enabled a strong connection between Julie and her nurse.
Ensuring our D/deaf patients have an interpreter can be crucial to their level of care and a positive experience in our service.
