THE hospital trust has apologised after a poster created for deaf people depicted the wrong sign language. 

Members of the deaf community were left furious when they saw a poster using American Sign Language instead of British Sign Language.  

For many deaf people in the UK, BSL is their first language and often need a translator to communicate with other people. 

The poster appeared at Worcestershire Royal, The Alexandra hospital in Redditch, and Kidderminster hospital.

However, the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said it took immediate steps in order to correct the poster.

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Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "A small number of posters and leaflets were produced by our British Sign Language interpreting agency Word360 as part of a wider piece of work being carried out at the Trust to improve the experience of d/Deaf patients when accessing hospital services.

Worcester News: NHS apologise for poster in the wrong language NHS apologise for poster in the wrong language (Image: NHS)

“We were grateful to a member of our local d/Deaf community for flagging the issues with us and we have taken immediate steps to ensure that these are rectified.

"We are currently working with members of the local community to design new resources.

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"An apology has been made to members of the community that we are working with, which I am happy to reiterate now, with a repeated assurance that we are committed to ensuring our services are as accessible as possible.

"We look forward to continuing to work with our d/Deaf community on the additional measures that can be put in place across our hospitals to support this.”  

A member from the deaf community, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: "We are always getting let down by the hospital. Sometimes interpreters are not booked and we don't have any way of communicating with the doctors. BSL is my first language and I need an interpreter. 

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"I also felt how embarrassing it was for the hospital.

"And felt that the staff and managers need more Deaf awareness. it was not only me but on Facebook, the deaf community were furious at the poster.

"It is just plain ignorance.

"I would like to recognise that BSL is a language in its own right. That is it is not protected by law. That everyone should have access to the hospital. And they would fix the poster from American Sign Language to something else. I would like the CEO to say sorry rather than just fobbing us off with some words.