Experience Report Aintree University Hospital Southport & Ormskirk
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Experience Report Aintree University Hospital Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust ‘Out patient’ Services For Deaf & hard of hearing patients’ Compiled by Healthwatch Sefton: Reported: July 2015 Healthwatch Sefton. Company Ltd. by Guarantee Reg. No: 8453782 Healthwatch Sefton Registered Office: Sefton Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) 3rd Floor, Suite 3B, North Wing, Burlington House, Crosby Road North, Waterloo, L22 0LG Tel: (0151) 920 0726 ext 240 www.healthwatchsefton.co.uk [email protected] Contents Page Header Page No. Introduction 3 Healthwatch Sefton’s Strategic Priorities 4 Summary of Main Findings 4 Experiences not included in this report 5 Statistics produced by Action on Hearing Loss 5 NHS England - Accessible Information Standard 6 Background to DeafHealth Champions 6-7 Background to Healthwatch Sefton 7-8 Healthwatch Cross Boundary work 8 How the out-patient project was promoted? 8 How experiences have been collected? 9 Anonymity 9 Summary of themes 9-11 Key Trends 12-14 Overviews of main areas / themes highlighted 14-16 Service User suggestions for improvements 17-18 Recommendations 18-19 Next Steps 19 Response from Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation 20 Trust 1 Response from Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust 20 Acknowledgements 21 Appendix (1) - Experiences Appendix (2) - Healthwatch Sefton Reporting Structure Appendix (3) – Healthwatch Sefton Patient Experience Form Appendix (4) – Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – Main Findings and highlighted areas for improvement Appendix (5) – Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Hospital Trust – Action Plan 2 Introduction Healthwatch Sefton’ Engagement & Participation Officer met with the DeafHealth Champion network in August 2014 to chat with members about their experiences of health and social care services. During the discussion with members it emerged that patients / carers and relatives were experiencing issues within out patient clinics at both Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, although other NHS Trusts and health services such as primary care were also highlighted. Through the information gathered from the DeafHealth Champion members, discussions were held at the ‘South & Central Sefton Community Champion Network’ meeting to find out if this area of work required escalating to the Healthwatch Sefton Steering Group. The network agreed and escalated the issue. Due to limited time and resources within the Healthwatch Sefton staff team it was agreed by the Healthwatch Sefton Steering Group that an initial piece of work would be carried out to find out the experiences of local people attending each of the following hospitals: Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust Other emerging themes arose during discussions with patients, carers and relatives including the provision of Interpreters and the maintenance of hearing aids. Where appropriate this has been included in this report and all comments /experiences are listed in Appendix 1. (Please note a separate piece of work on accessing Interpreter Services at Southport & Ormskirk NHS Trust has previously been carried out during 2014). A copy can be found on the Healthwatch Sefton website by accessing www.healthwatchsefton.co.uk/experience-reports A work plan was drawn up for Healthwatch Sefton to gather out patient experiences for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. This included specific engagement with: DeafHealth Champion members – February 2015 Stay Warm Event – Sefton Opera February 2015 Southport Deaf Centre – March 2015 Brunswick Youth & Community Centre – March 2015* *Note the session held at the Brunswick Youth & Community Centre was open to Sefton residents to attend and did not focus on one particular group. This was promoted widely through local partners and groups and in addition an article was produced in the local press. Promotional materials were used across the Healthwatch Sefton membership to ensure all members of the community had the opportunity to get involved in having ‘Their Say’. 3 Healthwatch Sefton’s Strategic Priorities Healthwatch Sefton works towards achieving a number of key strategic priorities. We work to gather the views and experiences of health and social care services from the residents of Sefton and make them known to the commissioners, providers and Healthwatch England. Below are the key strategic priorities that this area of work contributed to: Gathering the views and understanding the experiences of patients and the public. Making people’s views known. Promoting and supporting the involvement of people in the commissioning and provision of local care services and how they are scrutinised. Making the views and experiences of people known to Healthwatch England (and to other local Healthwatch organisations) and providing a steer to help it carry out its role as national champion. Initiating independent thematic reviews / projects that highlight emerging themes. Summary of main findings A Total of 95 experiences were captured and recorded within this report. Service users, family and carers highlighted areas for improvement including: Staff training and development – for all front line staff to receive mandatory training in Deaf Awareness. Access to information – TV screens to be made available in all out patient waiting areas to display patient names when being called. Environmental – Room layout to be appropriate e.g. seating to face screens / and were nurses call out for patients. Records Management – Patients who are Deaf or hard of hearing to have a flag system both electronically and on the patient file to alert staff. Interpretation Services – Interpreters to be trained and qualified to appropriate standards for NHS care. Clear guidelines to be in place for all front line staff on how to book an Interpreter. Appointment booking service – A text message or email service to be in place for Deaf or hard of hearing patients to change or cancel appointments. Appointment letters to confirm if an Interpreter has been booked. For full details please refer to the sections at the end of this report ‘Service User suggestions for Improvements’ & ‘Recommendations.’ 4 Experiences not included in this report During the promotion and engagement for this project a number of experiences were received in relation to other providers including Primary Care. In these instances although they have been removed from this report the experiences have been captured and reported into the national Healthwatch England database. Where experiences have been shared on other Hospital Trusts including Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Broadgreen Hospital they have been included within this report due to them being a hospital provider and can be found in Appendix 1. Both Trusts will also be provided with a copy of this report. Statistics produced by Action on Hearing Loss •There are more than 10 million people in the UK with some form of hearing loss, or one in six of the population. •From this total 3.7 million are of working age (16 – 64) and 6.3 million are of retirement age (65+). •By 2031, it is estimated that there will be 14.5 million people with hearing loss in the UK. •More than 800,000 people in the UK are severely or profoundly deaf. •There are more than 45,000 deaf children in the UK, plus many more who experience temporary hearing loss. •More than 70% of over 70 year-olds and 40% of over 50 year-olds have some form of hearing loss. •There are approximately 356,000 people with combined visual and hearing impairment in the UK. •About two million people in the UK have hearing aids, but only 1.4 million use them regularly. •At least four million people who don't have hearing aids would benefit from using them. •On average it takes ten years for people to address their hearing loss. http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/your-hearing/about-deafness-and-hearing- loss/statistics.aspx 5 NHS England - Accessible Information Standard The Accessible Information Standard will require health and social care organisations to identify and record the information and communication support needs of patients and service users (and where appropriate their carers and parents) where these needs relate to or are caused by a disability, impairment or sensory loss. The Standard will also require organisations to take action to ensure that those needs are met. A new guidebook is being written for health and social care organisations across England. The guidebook will be an ‘Information Standard’ which is a set of rules which organisations must follow. The guidebook will tell organisations how they should make sure that people with a disability or sensory loss get information in the right format for them, and any support they need to communicate. This includes providing alternative formats such as braille or easy read, and using different ways to communicate with people, such as email. It also includes arranging support from a communication professional such as a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter or deafblind manual interpreter. The standard will tell organisations how they should find out about, record and act upon people’s information and communication support needs. The standard will particularly affect people who are d/Deaf, blind, deafblind, have some hearing or visual loss, and / or a learning disability. It is also thought that the standard will support people with aphasia, autism, and / or a mental health condition which affects their ability