TY - JOUR T1 - Access to primary care affects the health of Deaf people JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 95 LP - 96 DO - 10.3399/bjgp15X683629 VL - 65 IS - 631 AU - Alan Emond AU - Matthew Ridd AU - Hilary Sutherland AU - Lorna Allsop AU - Andrew Alexander AU - Jim Kyle Y1 - 2015/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/65/631/95.abstract N2 - ‘On Wednesday, Hazel (a Deaf British Sign Language user) felt unwell at work. She went to a walk-in clinic, where she had to communicate with the nurse by writing notes (there were no interpreters on call). Hazel can read, but like many Deaf people this is at a basic level. The nurse diagnosed a problem with her knee but told her to go to her GP, which Hazel did first thing on Thursday, but had to sit around for a couple of hours to be seen. Again, as there was no interpreter at short notice, she had to tell the GP about her ‘stiffness’ on her left side by writing. She could not follow what the doctor was saying except ‘she should go to hospital’ to be checked. She went to the emergency department, which entailed another wait and more written communication, where she was kept in overnight and on Friday morning the doctor (at least she thinks it was a doctor) wrote down she ‘probably had a mild stroke’. Since she was feeling a bit better, she was told that she could go home and rest. Her condition worsened over the weekend until she could not hold a cup with her left hand. On Monday morning she went back to the GP, who took one look at her and sent her by ambulance straight to hospital for emergency admission. She was admitted for a week and was discharged back to the care of her GP, who had this time managed to get an interpreter. During this consultation it emerged that she had stopped her antihypertensives because she did not like the tablets, and she was unaware that this was meant to be a lifelong treatment.’This story was reported in a recent study of the health of Deaf sign … ER -