What direction has the Welsh Government provided to health boards and the Wales Interpretation and Translation Service to act together in the interests of the deaf community?
The ‘All Wales Standard for Accessible Communication and Information for People with Sensory Loss’ sets the direction for Health Boards and Trusts to ensure the communication and information needs of people with a sensory loss are met when accessing our healthcare services.
British Sign Language (BSL) is the first or preferred language of the Deaf community in the UK. Citizens who use BSL are often comfortable and confident only when communicating face-to-facein BSL. It may be their only language, as many BSL users do not speak, or lip-read Welsh, or English effectively. Since 2004, Welsh Government has recognised British Sign Language (BSL) as a language of Wales.
The Wales Interpretation and Translation Service (WITS) was established in 2009 to meet the interpretation and translation needs of the Public Sector. Hosted by Cardiff Council since 2017 WITS provides access to a wide range of registered interpreters covering approximately 120 languages, including BSL.
Partner organisations can access the WITS on demand services through their partner agreement. All Health Boards and Trusts in Wales are now partners to WITS.
WITS confirmed that BSL forms a large part of their service provision and is in the Top 5 requested languages each month. Management information from the service shows that, between April and November 2022, 1421 requests were made to WITS for a BSL interpreter in Health Board settings throughout Wales and of that WITS were able to source an interpreter for 96.4% of requests.