Better Health For All

“Deafness separates people from people”  Helen Keller  

Hearing loss is highly prevalent and can have profound effects not only on communication, but also on health, wellbeing and quality of life for individuals, families and communities. On Thursday 6 December 2018, at the Curzon Cinema in Oxford, the Public Health Film Society in conjunction with the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Special Interest Groups (SIGs), Public Health England  and Oxfordshire County Council kicked off the start of the 3rd Public Health Film Festival with a screening of the Oscar winning film “The Silent Child”. The aim was to raise awareness of hearing loss in children and its potential for significant personal, social and economic impact.  

The short film was introduced by the film’s writer and producer Rachel Shenton. It explores the tensions and differences in expectations between the hearing family of a young deaf girl and her specialist teacher who attempts to nurture and improve the child’s communication skills and ability to interact and connect with others.  The family however remained resistant to learning sign language and did not have high expectations for their daughter.   

Following the film, a panel of experts engaged in discussion with the audience and the film proved most effective in galvanizing debate on this important public health priority. The ensuing debate covered issues including: 

1. Policy: at national level there is PHE’s screening and prevention programme offering hearing tests to newborn babies and children to identify any problems early on in their development along with PHE’s wider work around speech and language.  NHS England and others produced an “Action Plan on Hearing Loss” to support services for deaf people and others recommending ways that services can be improved. 
2. Partnerships: further integrated and holistic approaches should be developed with more joined up approaches across services to reduce, for example, developmental and educational gaps and to increase personalised care planning.   
3. Awareness and understanding: work to strengthen understanding amongst the public and professionals including dispel the myth that deafness is a learning disability given deaf children have the potential to achieve the same as any other child with the right support.  
4. Data and intelligence: enhance the quality of data collection and monitor this more effectively to better understand social, financial and personal health implications. 
5. Resources: the direct cost to the NHS of managing hearing loss is estimated to cost up to £450 million a year. The Minister of State for Children and Families reported councils were given £223m extra funding to pay for the biggest reforms to special needs education in a generation, with new education, health and care plans tailored to the needs of every child; however the “Consortium for Research into Deaf Education” reported the number of teachers of the deaf had been cut by 14% in the past seven years, at the same time as a 31% increase in the number of children requiring support.  

The panel was chaired by Uy Hoang, President, Public Health Film Society. The experts on the panel were: 

• Richard Kuziara, Health Improvement Practitioner, Oxford County Council 
• Karen Saunders, Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead/Public Health Specialist, Public Health England (West Midlands)  
• Alison Kahn, research and tutorial fellow in material culture and film at Stanford University in Oxford and Director of the Oxford Documentary Film Institute 

This briefing will be shared widely and feedback is welcomed. If you’d like to read the briefing, please contact Uy via email: publichealthfilmsociety@gmail.com. 

Written by Karen Saunders, Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead/Public Health Specialist, Public Health England (West Midlands) and Co-Chair of FPH’s Children and Young People Special Interest Group.