A NEW webcam will ensure deaf patients receive better care at Blackburn’s urgent care centre, health chiefs have announced.
Blackburn with Darwen Council and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has launched a pilot project to enable nurses to connect with a British Sign Language interpreter via a Skype video call, so they can translate on behalf of deaf patients and nursing staff when discussing symptoms and treatment.
For the first time, it will give deaf patients the same access to services as other patients, and will also save the East Lancashire Deaf Society, and hospital, time and money.
Previously, assessment of deaf patients at the urgent care unit had to be delayed until an on-call interpreter could travel to the site, with interpreters’ travel expenses and time factored into the costs.
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