Heartbeat: Signing skills to help communication with patients

July 29, 2019

A group of 12 colleagues from across the Trust, both clinical and nonclinical, have recently completed their level one course in British Sign Language. They finished their third and final exam in June and are expecting to receive their results shortly.

The group, who work in a range of areas including A&E, women and children, and complaints, met every Wednesday from January onwards as they gradually developed their understanding and signing skills. Their instructor conducted the class completely in sign.

The course is organised through the Trust’s equality and diversity team and delivered by an external provider called Signature. It’s been an enjoyable process, with the group helping each other along and becoming good friends.

Charlie Duhig, a midwife at the Serenity Birthing Suite, was excited to take part: “I wanted to do the course as I felt it would benefit my practice to be able to communicate better with those who are deaf or hard of hearing. I felt it would

make them feel more relaxed and hopefully have a better birth experience,” she said. “It can be very alienating to be in a hospital setting for anyone. But when you add this to an already heightened emotional time such as labour, and you are struggling to make sense of what is going on around you, I felt this skill would be particularly beneficial.”

Natalie Trepsenishti, a charitable funds and cash office administrator at City Hospital, was also motivated to make a difference for patients. She enjoyed the experience too.

“Deaf people are cut off from the usual forms of communication such as hearing your name being called at the doctor’s or exchanging a few kind words with a stranger. This means that deaf people can feel isolated and find it hard to get information or even help in an emergency,” said Natalie.

“I wanted to be able to help by learning the basics of sign language, even just to say a friendly ‘How are you today?’ or ‘Can I help you?’ That feeling of making someone feel included is amazing.

“BSL is a beautiful visual language. We had so much fun every week learning and practising the signs. Our tutor, Karl, was superb and I am grateful for his support and encouragement to do well.”

Having learned a lot over the last six months, it’s something they would recommend to others. Most are keen to continue onto the level two course, which will be self-funded. A second cohort has also recently started up.