Sheffield woman had to tell deaf father he had weeks to live

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust said it was conducting a review of the incident

A woman had to tell her deaf father he had just weeks to live as there was no sign language interpreter at the hospital where he was being treated.

The man, know only as Ronnie, was diagnosed with cancer last year, but it was left to his daughter to tell him there was nothing doctors could do.

Kate Bushen, from Sheffield's Deaf Advice Team, said it was "wrong" for the woman to be put in that position.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust said it was conducting a full review.

Ronnie's wife, Sue, said she wanted to share her family's experience through the Deaf Advice Service to highlight the issues deaf people face.

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Sue said her husband felt 'frightened' in hospital as he could not communicate with staff

Ronnie spent three days alone in hospital after being diagnosed with cancer in April, according to the Local Democracy Reporting service.

Sue said he had felt "isolated and frightened" as none of the staff were able to sign and he was unable to lip-read as staff were wearing facemasks due to to the coronavirus pandemic.

After being discharged his daughter was asked to attend a follow-up appointment with him, where she was left to tell him he had between two weeks and two months left to live. He died at home two weeks later.

Ms Bushen said: "Why should his daughter have to tell him to his face that he was going to die? That's not her role, that's wrong."

Ronnie's family shared their story as part of an awareness campaign with Healthwatch Sheffield and Citizens Advice Sheffield.

Dr David Hughes, medical director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals said the Trust was "very sorry" and acknowledged more needed to be done.

He said a sign language interpreter service was available and the Trust would "be undertaking a review to understand what happened".

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