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<p>The Government is committed to ensuring that all people who have a mental health
need, including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, are able to access
appropriate support when they need it regardless of other physical health conditions.
Commissioners are responsible for commissioning appropriate cultural and linguistic
provisions when planning services for deaf people.</p><p>Deaf patients are able to
access mental health services based on a clinical assessment of need with the support
and involvement of clinicians (including consultant psychiatrists and mental health
nurses) with the skills and experience of working with deaf people with mental illness
and who are able to communicate using British Sign Language (BSL) where needed.</p><p>NHS
England commissions specialised mental health services for children, young people
and adults who are deaf or have a hearing impairment. These include inpatient and
outreach services for children and young people and services for adults who require
inpatient care, including care in secure mental health services.</p><p>The Specialised
Mental Health Clinical Reference Group provides advice and support to NHS England
about improving commissioning, including through service specifications and quality
schemes. NHS England has developed a specific Commissioning for Quality and Innovation
(CQUIN) scheme in 2019-20 for specialised deaf services aimed at introducing a standardised
approach to the assessment and understanding of a patient’s individual communication
skills, which will improve the effectiveness of interactions with staff, care planning
and delivery.</p><p>The Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health has published
guidance for commissioners of primary care mental health services for deaf people.
This is for use by clinical commissioning groups, local authorities and service providers
across primary and secondary care. The content is evidence based and incudes what
is deemed to be best practice when commissioning mental health services for deaf people.
The guide is available at the following link:</p><p><a href="http://www.improvement.nhs.uk/resources/improving-mental-health-services-for-deaf-people/"
target="_blank">www.improvement.nhs.uk/resources/improving-mental-health-services-for-deaf-people/</a></p><p>The
guidance recommends the training of psychological wellbeing practitioners through
an accredited standard Improving Access to Psychological Therapies low intensity training
course adapted for delivery in BSL. It also sets out the benefit of providing the
current specialist BSL workforce with access to continuing professional development
training so that they are able to further develop their skills and expertise through
programmes such as high intensity therapy, counselling for depression, supervision
qualifications and other appropriate interventions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
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