| answer text |
<p>The National Health Service Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)
programme is available to all adults. If an individual is deaf and requires British
Sign Language (BSL) to be used, services can either use a BSL interpreter or refer
them to Sign Health, an IAPT service which delivers therapy using BSL trained therapists.
Sign Health is available nationally but is funded via individual funding requests,
so clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for funding decisions. In
2018/19 Sign Health received £1 million from 116 CCGs for the treatment of around
250 people. Other alternatives that may be suitable for deaf people include therapy
delivered via a digital route, for example text messaging.</p><p>The NHS England IAPT
manual, published in June 2018, specifies that commissioners, managers, primary and
secondary care clinicians should develop local IAPT care pathways in consultation
with patient groups and community leaders, including under-represented groups. The
IAPT manual recommends that commissioners and providers consider commissioning services
that have bilingual clinicians who speak the language of local minority groups, including
clinicians who are fluent in BSL for deaf people.</p><p>Local commissioners have to
pay due regard to the equality legislation when commissioning IAPT services. They
are able to decide whether they meet their responsibilities through services who provide
BSL trained therapists or through interpreters in their locality.</p>
|
|
