The following evidence confirms staff will frequently be caring for people with a sensory impairment. This means your staff will frequently be caring for people with a sensory impairment and it is therefore important they have training and knowledge on related issues.
Evidence – Statistics
Hearing Loss
- One in six people has a hearing loss
- 75% of people living in care homes have a hearing loss
- Up to 40% of people with learning disabilities are estimated to have hearing loss, which is often undiagnosed
- There are an estimated 550 profoundly Deaf BSL users in Lothian. Many Deaf people have limited English literacy, and BSL/English interpretation should be arranged to enable full communication
Sight loss
- One in five people aged over 75 have significant sight loss
- Half of the over 90s have a significant sight loss
- People with learning disabilities are ten times more likely to have sight loss, which can be undiagnosed
Dual sensory impairment
- One in 20 people in Scotland are living with both hearing and sight loss
- 88% of people with dual sensory loss are aged over 70
Sensory Impairment eLearning for Care Home Staff
As part of the implementation of the See Hear strategy in Edinburgh, and the BSL Plan for the City of Edinburgh Council/Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, we are promoting four e-Learning modules to raise staff awareness of how to improve their care for people with hearing and/or sight loss:
- Deaf awareness
- Sight loss awareness
- Deafblind awareness
- BSL awareness
The four modules are available on Turas Learn, NHS Education for Scotland’s learning platform for health and social care staff. Anyone can register for these modules by going to the Turas website and searching for “deaf” “sight” “deafblind” and “BSL”. City of Edinburgh Council staff can access these on myLearningHub if they prefer, and the modules are also on NHS Lothian LearnPro.
Please note, some staff may already have completed all or some of the modules, as they have been required pre-course learning in previous See Hear courses such as “Sensory Champion (2 day)” and “Sight Loss and Deaf Awareness” (1 day).
Public Health Scotland’s Making Communication Even Better Learning Hub is full of excellent resources to improve communication with people with communication support needs.
Bespoke Training
Audiology can provide face to face training on hearing aid use and maintenance to care home staff. Please contact Audiology@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk marked FAO Denise Rennex for further information
Further information
For information on hearing loss, tinnitus and hearing aids as well as audiology services and referral to services please see the following webpages.
Audiology – Sensory Impairment: Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, and Hearing Aids
Audiology: Referral Pathway
