THE lives of deaf patients are being put at risk by communication barriers in NHS England, two leading charities have warned.

A report by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) and SignHealth reveals that deaf people are routinely denied essential support such as British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters, lipreaders or accessible ways to contact their GP, in breach of legal requirements under the Equality Act 2010.

The report found that almost half of deaf patients gave up trying to make an appointment due to communication barriers and nearly a quarter experienced delays or incorrect diagnoses.

Crystal Rolfe of RNID said: “Imagine not being able to understand a cancer diagnosis or having to rely on a family member to tell you that you’re seriously ill or even dying.

“The NHS is systematically discriminating against people who are deaf or have hearing loss. It’s a national scandal.”

The charities have urged the government to prioritise work to improve the NHS Accessible Information Standard and make staff training in deaf awareness mandatory.

An NHS spokesperson called the report’s findings “shocking an unacceptable” and said that the health service was “committed to meeting its responsibilities.”