Birmingham hospital staff asked teenage boy to translate for deaf mother, report finds
NHS staff used a teenage boy to tell his deaf mother that her father might not survive the night, an investigation has found.
Connor Petty, who was 16 at the time, had to deliver the news about his grandfather after the hospital he was being treated at failed to provide an interpreter.
He also had to tell his mother that medics thought CPR should not be provided if the need arose.
Alan Graham, 75, who had been diagnosed with heart failure, died the following day.
His daughter Jennifer Graham-Petty, 52, was born deaf and uses British Sign Language (BSL).
She told the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) that her children, including Connor’s sister Mia, who was 12 at the time, were used to relay information about her father’s condition.
Ms Graham-Petty described the situation as “very upsetting” and said she asked for an interpreter “every day” that her father was in hospital.
The probe found that the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust failed to comply with national guidance.
Mr Graham, a former furniture maker who was originally from Dundee, visited Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in June 2021 after suffering a fall.
Medics diagnosed him with heart failure before he was discharged in August.
However, after having symptoms such as swelling in his legs and chest pain, Mr Graham went back to hospital in the September and died two weeks later.
The PHSO found that in the 11 weeks Mr Graham spent in hospital, the trust only provided professional interpreters on three occasions.
The investigation found staff regularly used his grandchildren to communicate with Mr Graham, who was also deaf and used BSL.
Ms Graham-Petty said: “It was extremely frustrating, every day I was asking for an interpreter.
“My children just wanted to visit their granddad and be there for him as family members but they were constantly being asked to translate by the staff.
“While they know some BSL, they are hearing so it is not their first language and they don’t have the same level of knowledge as a professional to interpret the medical jargon that staff were asking them to.
“Having to deliver the bad news about my dad’s prognosis was totally unacceptable and very upsetting for all of us.
“Too often there is a lack of interpreters in healthcare settings all over the UK, I have experienced it myself when being referred by GPs.
“There needs to be more awareness about the barriers faced by deaf people and things need to change.”
Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive at the PHSO, said the trust caused “unnecessary distress” in the weeks before Mr Graham’s death.
She added: “Public services must be accessible to everyone for the system to be fair and equitable.
“Deaf patients and their families should have access to the same healthcare as everyone else without facing additional barriers.
“This is recognised by national clinical guidelines which say that interpreters should be provided to those who face difficulties in speaking and understanding English.
“It is also enshrined in standards and legislation, such as the Accessible Information Standard and the Equality Act, which both set out that service providers should make reasonable adjustments for deaf people to access their services.”
The PHSO recommended that the trust creates an action plan to prevent this situation from happening again.
It also called on the trust to apologise to the family and pay Mr Graham’s daughter and grandchildren compensation.
The ombudsman has also raised concerns about access to BSL interpreters to NHS England and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID).
Victoria Boelman, director of insight and policy at the RNID, said: “The details of this case are entirely unjust and unacceptable, yet sadly unsurprising.
“We know from our research and campaigning work in this area that the levels of communication support and access to healthcare information for deaf communities and those with hearing loss are often woefully lacking.
“Change is urgently needed as lives are being seriously disrupted, and even lost in some cases, because vital health information is not being communicated in a way that is accessible to all, and this should not be the case.
“We are calling on the Department of Health and Social Care to make a series of improvements, such as mandatory deaf awareness training to be introduced to all NHS staff.”
A spokesperson for University Hospitals Birmingham said: “We offer our sincere apologies to Jennifer, Connor and Mia for their experience, at what was a very difficult time for them.
“We recognise that we did not get things right and understand the impact this had on them.
“We have taken this feedback seriously and, since 2021, implemented learning actions across the organisation to help improve the experience of our deaf patients and their families, including strengthening awareness and accessibility arrangements to ensure patients’ communication needs are better met.
“We remain committed to learning from this and to providing inclusive, compassionate care for all our patients.”
