Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that covid-19 (a) testing and (b) vaccination services are accessible for deaf British Sign Language users in the context that the wearing of personal protective equipment by the people providing those services makes lipreading impossible.

We recommend that individuals who have specific needs, such as requiring the use of British Sign Language (BSL), book their covid-19 vaccine through their general practitioner, so they can access the appropriate support to meet their needs.

Guidance published on GOV.UK states the specifications of the personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, that should be worn. The guidance requires that where the wearing of PPE restricts communication with individuals, other ways of communicating to meet their needs should be considered. Transparent masks are not currently used at test sites. However, the Department and the National Health Service are actively working with partners to ensure that at least one designated staff member will be provided with a transparent mask to be worn during the site’s opening hours, to assist test subjects that need to be able to lip read or see facial expressions. BSL is also currently available via the Test and Trace 119 call centre.