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A new report from RNID and SignHealth, Still Ignored: The Fight for Accessible Healthcare (April 2025), presents a damning indictment of how the NHS continues to fail Deaf people and those with hearing loss. The findings are stark: despite legal rights to accessible care under the Equality Act 2010 and the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), thousands are left without interpreters, misunderstood by medical staff, and placed at serious risk due to a systemic lack of communication support.
The research, which includes responses from over 1,100 Deaf and hard of hearing people across England, shows that:
67% of British Sign Language (BSL) users and 62% of those needing professional communication support have been denied it by the NHS.
70% have never been asked about their communication needs.
Fewer than one in five BSL users feel they can trust the NHS to meet their needs.
“I Didn’t Know I Had a Miscarriage”: Real Stories, Real Harm
The report includes powerful, personal testimonies that reflect the human cost of these failings.
One Deaf woman recounted attending A&E for unexplained blood loss. No interpreter arrived, despite several requests. She later discovered—via a leaflet handed to her in a bereavement room—that she had miscarried. The trauma was intensified by confusion and isolation during what should have been a compassionate, well-supported moment of care.
Another person described being left without food or water during a hospital stay because staff assumed she had been asked—but no one made the effort to communicate in a way she could understand.
Structural Exclusion, Not Isolated Failures
These stories are not anomalies. They are part of a national pattern of discrimination, one rooted not in individual impairments, but in systemic barriers. The report makes clear that the root problem is not Deaf people’s communication needs, but the failure of the NHS to meet them.
This includes:
Lack of staff training on Deaf awareness and AIS duties.
Widespread misuse of family members as interpreters.
Inaccessible complaints systems that deny people the opportunity to drive change.
A Postcode Lottery for Essential Care
The situation is worsened by the inconsistent provision of basic audiology services. In many areas, ear wax removal is no longer available on the NHS, forcing people to go private or risk dangerous self-treatment. At the same time, a scandal involving over 1,500 children misdiagnosed due to faulty hearing tests between 2019 and 2023 has revealed just how far the system has fallen short.
This report underlines what WECIL and other Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) have been saying for years: the NHS must stop treating accessible healthcare as optional. It is a legal requirement and a human right.
We join RNID and SignHealth in calling for the NHS to:
- Fully and consistently implement the Accessible Information Standard: NHS providers must be trained and held accountable for identifying, recording, and meeting communication needs—especially for Deaf patients.
- End the postcode lottery for audiology and access services: Essential services like ear wax removal must be made available equitably across the country.
- Work in partnership with Deaf communities: Deaf people must be included in designing and reviewing the services that affect their lives.
Local Support: Connect with CfD
If you’re based in Bristol and looking for further support or specialist advice, we encourage you to connect with the Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People (CfD). As a local Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation (DDPO), CfD provides vital advocacy, communication support, and equipment services for d/Deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind people.
Read the Full Report
RNID & SignHealth – Still Ignored: The Fight for Accessible Healthcare (2025) Download the full PDF or view as a BSL video below.
