Work to support d/Deaf community at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals shortlisted for award

A Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals team have been recognised for their work to improve healthcare accessibility for the d/Deaf community across Warrington and Halton. 

The Patient Experience and Inclusion Team are finalists in the Communicating Effectively with Patients and Families category at the Picker Experience Network (PEN) Awards 2025 for their commitment to equality and improving communication and interpretation access to support the needs of patients who are d/Deaf. D/Deaf is a term used to describe people who are deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or deafblind.

Working with local advocacy groups and the d/Deaf community, several initiatives have been developed to transform how care is delivered, including digital alerts to flag communication needs, deaf awareness training for staff, and guides on how to access interpretation and translation services to support patients. 

The roll-out of the initiatives has enabled teams across the Trust to develop tailored approaches to support the needs of d/Deaf patients in all aspects of everyday care. 

Ali Kennah, Chief Nurse at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals, said: “I am delighted to see the hard work of the team nominated for this award. Helping to reduce health inequalities by ensuring all of our patients can access appropriate communication methods is a top priority for WHH and this work demonstrates the Trust’s commitment to embedding inclusive practices into everything we do. It is a fantastic example of the importance of listening to our patients and their lived experience to develop solutions that are not only inclusive but sustainable too.” 

The team’s efforts have made a substantial improvement to patient experience, with 87% of d/Deaf patients now reporting that they feel they have been supported, as appropriate, with a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter during their hospital appointment or stay, up from just 5% in the two years prior to the roll-out. 

Communications needs for the d/Deaf community now also form part of the Trust-wide equality and health impact assessment process, putting equity, dignity and personalised care at the heart of every patient interaction and supporting everyone to see the ‘person in the patient’.  

Susan Dean, Deputy Head of Patient Experience and Inclusion at WHH, said: “It is fantastic to be recognised by a national patient experience network for this project. By working alongside our patients, the Trust has been able to embed meaningful, practical and person-centred practices that truly make a difference.”

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Thursday 2 October hosted at the University of Birmingham.