Disabled continue to face barriers accessing health services

By The Press Association13th March 2015News EnglandDisabilities, Health and Wellbeing, News England, Service Delivery

Children as young as five are having to translate for their deaf parents at the doctor’s because Britain’s health services are failing to ensure access for disabled people, a report has found.

A national study has warned that disabled patients face “significant” barriers visiting their local GP or dentist.

The report, by the patient group Healthwatch, found that in some parts of Britain deaf people are being told they can only book a doctor’s appointment on the phone – despite their disability.

Other practices are not fully accessible by wheelchair, leaving many disabled people facing major hurdles even getting in to see their GP.

Health watchdog the Care Quality Commission admitted the findings are “worrying”.

The report canvassed the views of 11,000 patients and visited 550 GP surgeries across Britain.

It found that 85% of people say they are happy with their doctor – but once researchers went beneath the surface they discovered disabled patients face a multitude of problems accessing even basic services.

In one case highlighted in the report, entitled Primary Care: A Review Of Local Healthwatch Reports, a deaf mother in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, said a doctor depended on her five-year-old daughter to translate.

The woman said: “One time I had to use my child to translate for me – she was five at the time. The staff were talking to her and saying to her ‘Tell your mum this, tell your mum that’.

“They were ignoring me. It wasn’t appropriate.”

One relative of a patient in Luton complained they had to “literally carry mum up the stairs” to visit the doctor because it was not accessible to wheelchair users.

Katherine Rake, chief executive of Healthwatch England, said: “Up and down the country, local Healthwatch are hearing stories from disabled people struggling to access vital GP and dentist appointments.

“If people can’t access primary care services, which act as the gateway to all other healthcare, this could have a negative knock-on effect on their ongoing treatment and their overall health and well-being.”

Anna Bradley, chairwoman of Healthwatch England, said: “We know from our conversations with the public that many are satisfied with the overall service they receive.

“Yet, when we dig beneath the surface, their experiences tell a different story, including reports from many patients with disabilities about communication problems and physical access barriers making it difficult for them to attend important appointments.

“Wherever physically possible, we want to see every GP and dentist surgery equipped with appropriate disabled access and provide hearing loops and translation service for those who are hearing impaired.”

Professor Steve Field, chief inspector of general practice at the Care Quality Commission, said the “findings from Healthwatch on the need to improve access for people with disabilities are worrying”.

Roger Wicks, director of policy and campaigns at charity Action on Hearing Loss said: “We know the severe lack of deaf awareness among health care professionals forces some deaf or hard of hearing people to avoid the doctor altogether and many of those who go miss being called in the waiting room, costing the NHS more than £14 million every year in missed appointments.

“Under the Equality Act 2010, hospitals and GPs have a responsibility to make services accessible for everyone but, as this isn’t happening, it’s crucial that the NHS enforces a National Accessible Information Standard, so that people who are deaf, have hearing loss or any disability can access the healthcare that they need in the same way that hearing people can.”