Are Health Services Meeting Your Needs?

Are health services meeting your needs?

In November 2013, the Welsh Government launched new standards for health services in Wales to ensure they are meeting the information and communication needs of people with sensory loss. This includes:

People who are Deaf or have hearing loss
People who are blind or partially sighted
People who are deafblind or have combined sight and hearing impairments, causing difficulties with communication, access to information and mobility.

The accessible communication and information standards say that:

Surgeries and hospitals should ask you about your communication needs and record this information
Staff should be sensitive to your needs and trained to communicate effectively with you
A BSL or deafblind manual interpreter will beavailable if you request one;
Appointment letters and information will be available in a format that is accessible to you, such as large print,braille or audio;
Loop systems should be installed, and staff should know how to use them;
Hospitals should be well-lit and have clear signs so that it is easier to find your way around;
You should be able to make or change an appointment through a variety of methods, such as telephone, email, text messaging, text phones and websites.

We want to know if the standards have resulted in any improvements when you use health services.

Please complete the parts of this survey relevant to you.

If you would like to provide specific examples of your experiences, please do so.

We will collect this information and present it as a report tothe Welsh Government.

If you have any questions about the survey or would like assistance to complete it, please get in touch.

Please return survey responses by October 24 to:

Tess Saunders

RNIB Cymru, Jones Court, Womanby Street, Cardiff, CF10 1BR

T. 029 20 82 8564

Katie Chappelle

Action on Hearing Loss Cymru, Tudor House, 16 Cathedral Road, Cardiff. CF11 9LJ

T.029 2090 7516

Catrin Edwards

Sense Cymru, Ty Penderyn, 26 High St, Merthyr Tydfil, CF24 8DP

T. 0300 330 9280

Text. 0300 330 9283

About you

1. Please describe your sensory loss:

Blind / partially sighted
Deaf
Have a hearing loss
Deafblind/ dual sensory loss

Answer:

1a (secondary question if recipient answers ‘deaf’ or ‘hearing loss’)

How do you prefer to communicate?

British Sign Language (BSL)
Using a Loop system
Lipreading
Sign Supported English (SSE)
Other

2. What is your postcode?

Answer:

The following questions ask about your sight and/or hearing loss. Not all questions will be relevant to you. Please answer all of the questions that are relevant to you and answer ‘Not applicable’ to questions that are not relevant.

Visiting your GP

3. Have you visited your GP surgery in the last year?

Answer:

If you answered ‘Yes’, please answer Questions 4-10.

If you answered ‘No’, please go straight to Question 11.

4. If you need information in an accessible format, did anyone askhow you would like to receive the information?

(For example, appointment letters or information leaflets in braille, by email, in point 20 font)

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

5. If yes, did you receive information in the correct format?

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

6. If you have specific communication needs, did anyone ask you about the support you needed?

(For example, do you need toa Hearing Loop, BSL interpreter, deafblind manual interpreter, lipspeaker, Communicator-guide)

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

If you answered ‘Yes’, you may wish to note which form of communication support you require.

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

7. If you requested communication support, was it available to you?

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

8. Consider the staff you have encountered at your GP surgery: reception staff, doctors and nurses. Were they able to communicate well with you?

You could think about how reception staff greeted you and kept you informed, or whether health professionals made sure you understood the information you were given.

Choose the most appropriate statement:

Most or all staff could communicate well with me
Some staff could communicate well with me
None of the staff were able to communicate well with me

Answer:

Comments, or examples of your experience:

9. Consider the surgery building and its physical layout. Is it set out in a way that helps you to get the information you need and to find your way around easily?

You couldthink about the signs or the lighting they use, alerts to let you know when it’s your turn, the level of background noise in the surgery, amongst other things.

Choose the most appropriate statement:

The layout is well-suited to my needs and could not be improved
The layout is quite good but could be improved
The layout is poor, whichmakes it difficult for me to find my way or to get the information I need
The layout puts me in danger and needs urgent improvements

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

10. Thinking about your experiences over the past year, have you noticed any improvements in the way that your GP surgery communicates with you?

Yes
No
Don’t know

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

Planned hospital appointments and in-patient stays

11. Have you had a planned overnight stay in hospital or an appointment at an outpatient clinic in the last year?

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

If you answered ‘Yes’, please answer Questions 12-18.

If you answered ‘No’, please go to Question 19.

12. If you need information in an accessible format, did anyone ask how you would like to receive the information?

(For example, appointment letters or information leaflets in braille, or by email, or in point 20 font)

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

13. If ‘Yes’, did you receive information in the correct format?

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

14. If you have specific communication needs, did anyone ask you about the support you needed?

(For example, do you need to use a Hearing Loop, BSL interpreter, deafblind manual interpreter, lipspeaker, Communicator-guide)

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

If you answered ‘Yes’, you may wish to note which form of communication support you require.

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

15. If you requested communication support, was it available to you?

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

16. Consider the staff you encountered at the hospital: reception staff, doctors, nurses etc. Were they able to communicate well with you?

You could think about how reception staff greeted you and kept you informed, or whether health professionals made sure you understood the information you were given.

Choose the most appropriate statement:

Most or all staff could communicate well with me
Some staff could communicate well with me
None of the staff were able to communicate well with me

Answer:

Comments, or examples of your experience:

17. Consider the hospital building, the ward or the clinic and its physical layout. Was it set out in a way that helped you to get the information you needed and to find your way around easily?

You could think about the signs or the lighting they used, alerts to let you know when it was your turn, the level of background noise, amongst other things.

Choose the most appropriate statement:

The layout was well-suited to my needs and could not be improved
The layout was quite good but could be improved
The layout was poor, which made it difficult for me to find my way or to get the information I need
The layout put me in danger and needs urgent improvements

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

18. Thinking about your experiences over the past year, have you noticed any improvements in the way hospitals communicate with you?

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

Emergency or unscheduled hospital care

19. Have you been a patient at an Accident & Emergency clinic during the past year?

Answer:

If‘Yes’, please answer questions 20-23.

If ‘No’, please go straight to question 24.

20. Did the staff ask you whether you had sensory loss?

No
Don’t know

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

21. If you are deaf or have hearing loss, did the staff use a guide (called the Pre-Hospital Communication Guide) to help you to communicate with them?

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

22. Consider the staff you encountered at A&E: reception staff, doctors, nurses etc. Were they able to communicate well with you?

You could think about how reception staff greeted you and kept you informed, or whether health professionals made sure you understood the information you were given.

Choose the most appropriate statement:

Most or all staff could communicate well with me
Some staff could communicate well with me
None of the staff were able to communicate well with me

Answer:

Comments, or examples of your experience

23. Consider the hospital building and the physical layout of the A&E ward. Was it set out in a way that helped you to get the information you needed and to find your way around easily?

You could think about the signs or the lighting they used, alerts to let you know when it was your turn, the level of background noise, amongst other things.

Choose the most appropriate statement:

The layout was well-suited to my needs and could not be improved
The layout was quite good but could be improved
The layout was poor, which made it difficult for me to find my way or to get the information I need
The layout put me in danger and needs urgent improvements

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

24. Have you received treatment from ambulance staff during the past year?

Answer:

If ‘Yes’, please answer questions 25-27.

If ‘No’ please go straight to question 28.

25. Did the ambulance staff ask you whether you had sensory loss?

No
Don’t know

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

26. If you are deaf or have hearing loss, did the ambulance staff use a guide(called the Pre-Hospital Communication Guide) to help you to communicate with them?

Yes
No
Not applicable

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

27. Were the ambulance staff able to communicate well with you?

Choose the most appropriate statement:

Most or all staff could communicate well with me
Some staff could communicate well with me
None of the staff were able to communicate well with me

Answer:

Comments, or examples of your experience

Reporting concerns or complaints

28. If you wanted to report a concern or complaint about health services, would you know how to do this?

Answer:

29. Have you tried to report a concern or complaint about health services in the last year?

Answer:

If ‘Yes’, please answer question 30.

If ‘No’, please go straight to question 31.

30. How easy was it to report a concern or complaint?

Easy
It was ok, but it wasn’t that straightforward
Difficult

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

The impact of the standards

31. Thinking about your experiences over the past year, have you noticed any improvement in the way health services communicate with you?

Yes
No
Not sure

Answer:

Comments, or examples of experiences you have had:

Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to respond. If you would like further information about the accessible healthcare standards, or would be willing to tell us more about your experiences, please provide your contact details. We will not share your details and our survey will remain anonymous when published.

Name:

Preferred contact method:

Contact details: