Local sensory loss initiative wins NHS Wales award

An initiative to improve how patients with sensory loss access local healthcare services has won the NHS Wales Equitable Care Award at a prestigious ceremony in Cardiff on Thursday 24 October 2024.

Within Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, around 15,671 people have sight loss, and around 85,864 have hearing loss, meaning sensory loss is common among health service users.

Hywel Dda University Health Board (UHB) staff have explored ways to improve and standardise how it captures the communication preferences of patients with sensory loss.

Beverly Davies, Strategic Partnership and Inclusion Manager at Hywel Dda UHB said: “We want to provide equitable services for all our patients and this initiative aims to address the particular needs of our patients with sensory loss.

“Working together, we have increased awareness of how we can better meet patients’ communication needs through the use of patient record markers and have developed staff guidance on effective use of our digital patient administration system.

“These changes are already improving patient and staff experience. For example, more of our staff now complete the sensory loss e-learning module and participate in using alternative formats, such as Easy Read, Read Aloud, British Sign Language, and scenario training such as sight loss simulation exercise.”

“We also use information gathered from our feedback schemes: ‘We asked, you said, we did’ and ‘Can we help?’.”

Professor Phil Kloer, Chief Executive of Hywel Dda UHB congratulated the team: “It is wonderful to see this inspiring work showcased on the national stage.

“We are very proud of the commitment and achievement of our staff who consistently strive to improve healthcare practices and patient care.”

The health board aims to continue improving accessibility for people using its services and developing staff education and awareness in this area.

It plans to expand this focus to include other communication needs, such as foreign language and easy read, aligning with Equality Act (2010) duties, to prevent discrimination or disadvantage for patients with protected characteristics.

The NHS Wales Awards celebrate quality improvement work that has transformed the experience and outcomes for people in Wales and provides and showcases the talented health and care staff working together to improve services and patient care across Wales.

For more information on this award visit: https://executive.nhs.wales/functions/quality-safety-and-improvement/improvement-cymru/nhs-wales-awards/2024/equitable-care/hduhb-sensory-loss/