Communicating with patients who are deaf or have hearing loss

Offer alternative contact methods

People with hearing loss may find it difficult or impossible to communicate by telephone.

This can make it difficult to do things like book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and get test results.

Provide alternative ways to contact you, such as:

• email
• online booking
• SMS text messaging
• live webchat

Use telephone relay services

If you need to contact a patient by phone, there are services you can use to relay information accessibly:

• Relay UK, a free service where a relay assistant will type what you’re saying to the person with hearing loss
• a British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service, such as Convo or SignVideo

Check the patient’s records to see what contact method they prefer.