British Sign Language: national plan 2023 to 2029 - easy read

Health and Wellbeing

The law says that patients who are BSL users must be able to get the same health and social care access as hearing patients, in their first or preferred language.

NHS Scotland has an interpreting, communication support and translation policy that supports people to:

• fully take part in their care
• say what they need
• feel understood
• have the information they need to make decisions

This makes their healthcare experience better.

Our long-term goal

BSL users can get the information and services they need to live active, healthy lives, and to make choices at every stage of their lives.

Actions

We will:

24. Develop health as an important part of the Implementation Advisory Group’s work to:

• find what make it difficult for people to get health services
• develop ways to make this better

25. Make sure that BSL users are part of the development of the National Care Service.

26. Work with our partners to use and check our mental health standards.

This will include making sure information and services are accessible to everyone.

27. Improve equality, inclusion and diversity training for the mental health and wellbeing workforce, including promoting BSL training to the workforce.

28. Promote and support the learning of BSL as a second language for hard of hearing, deafened people and people at risk of a second sensory loss.

A second sensory loss means a person could be also losing their sight.

29. Use the learning from projects like Deafblind Scotland’s BSL Café Project that supports people who are at risk of a second sensory loss by teaching them BSL.

30. Build on the work in the social isolation and loneliness strategy to:

• include actions about BSL users
• link with local and national work to have less social isolation and loneliness, including how people get services and go to projects

Social isolation is when someone has little or no contact with other people.