Sensory Support Service

The team offer a service to both adults and children. They may be Deaf; hard of hearing; sight impaired (has replaced the definition partially sighted); severely sight impaired (has replaced the definition blind); have a Dual Sensory loss or experience tinnitus.

We provide advice and assistance about your hearing and/or sight loss. You may be assessed for specialist equipment on the basis of an assessed need.

The team is made up of rehabilitation workers; social workers; a peer support worker; equipment officers and admin staff. We also have a member of staff who is a Deafblind practitioner. The Deafblind practitioner works with those individuals with visual impairments, hearing impairments and deaf blindness, supporting the identification, assessment and support of deafblind people.

We have staff trained in British Sign Language (B.S.L.) and when requested, will book interpreters for appointments with the Deaf community.

We work with the Low Vision Clinic (L.V.C.). The L.V.C. assesses and provides service users with equipment to support sight loss. The team also work with the Audiology department. Audiology assess, supply and fit the most appropriate digital hearing aid.

People referred to the Sensory Support Service must live in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust area.

They must meet the criteria below:

Have a significant sight loss that cannot be corrected by glasses.
Be profoundly Deaf
Assessed as having a diagnosis of a hearing condition by an Audiology department.

You can contact any of the offices by emailing sensorysupport@setrust.hscni.net

Sensory Support Services in Northern Ireland (Subtitled Video)
Referral

The team offices operate a duty system each day, where a duty officer can help with your query or take a referral for the team. We accept referrals from service users, carers or family members, G.P’s and other healthcare professionals and voluntary organisations. Children under the age of 18 must be referred to the team via the Trust Gateway service, on Tel: 0300 1000 300

Referrals can also be made using the sensory support email address. This is checked daily between 9am and 1pm. The address is sensorysupport@setrust.hscni.net
Out of Hours Contacts
Please click here for emergency out of hours social work details.

Please click here for Emergency SMS Contact Details.

Members of the Deaf community can also use Tapsos which is an app available for anyone to use. Tapsos can be downloaded from google playstore or Apple’s app store. Tapsos is free to use. Please look at the website for further details at www.tapsos.com

RELAY UK 999 SERVICE

The Relay UK service allows deaf, hard of hearing or people with speech difficulties in the UK alert police, ambulance, fire or coastguard services by either calling via a relay assistant or texting a message to 999 using our emergency SMS service.

The Relay UK service lets deaf, hard of hearing, or speech-impaired people in the UK alert police, ambulance, fire, or coastguard services by either calling via a

Go to relayuk.bt.com for more information

App
1. On the Relay UK app, simply tap the 999 button and then confirm to make an emergency call – or call 18000 on your phone’s dialler.
2. Once prompted, click ‘Join’in the app window.
3. You’ll connect to 999 and a Relay Assistant.
4. Tell them which service you need and follow their replies in the app’s conversation window.
5. The 999 Operator will then connect you to the right emergency service
Sign Language Interpreting
From 1st April 2023 a new service called Sign Language Interactions was introduced.

Sign Language Interactions will provide communication support for people who are Deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing, by offering a full range of communication supports to include:
- Face to Face Sign Language Interpreting
- Remote Sign Language Interpreting
- Relay Interpreters
- Interpreters or deafblind people
- Lip speakers
- Electronic Notetakers
- Speech to Text Reporting
Sign Video is provided by Sign Language Interactions under the name of Sign Video (previously Interpreter Now). It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sign Video a free, on-line remote interpreting service for British Sign Language users (BSL) and Irish Sign Language users (ISL) in Northern Ireland. It provided the Deaf community with access to Health and Social Care services during the Covid 19 pandemic and is now established as an on-going service. For example a Deaf person can phone their GP, optician, social worker.

Health care staff can also phone a Deaf person through Sign Video and can book a virtual appointment. For health staff to request a virtual or face to face booking email bookingsni@signlanguageinteractions.com or phone 0333 344 7712.

Face to face appointments can still be booked through Sign Language Interactions.

If a Deaf person would like to check if an interpreter has been booked please text Sign Language Interactions on 07520648955

For more information visit https://signlanguageinteractions.com/hscni/
Subtitled Video Resources

Disability Equality from NHSCT Organisation Development on Vimeo.

How to Log into My Care- British Sign Language

How to Log into My Care- Irish Sign Language
Relay UK

What is Relay UK?

Our app makes those all-important phone calls easier. Simply type what you’d like to say and our assistant will relay the conversation in real-time. Relay UK brings relay services for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired people right up to date with the latest app technology. You don’t need any special kit – just download the app from the App Store, Google Play or the Microsoft Store onto your smartphone, tablet, or computer

Conversations are easy to manage and relaxed. For fluent communication with anyone, anywhere, use Relay UK.

How to use Relay UK

1. Download the app

You can download the Relay UK app for iOS devices and the Relay UK Desktop app for Mac computers from Apple’s App Store, or download Relay UK for Android devices from the Google Play Store.

For Windows 10 PCs, you can Get Relay UK from the Microsoft Store.

2. Linking your number

The first time you open the app, you’ll need to link your phone number so that the app can connect to the calls you make and receive.

Tip: You only need to link an individual phone number to the app once. You can link more numbers later – and a number can be linked to the app on other devices too.

3. Setting your communication preference

Deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech-impaired?

For all versions of the Relay UK app, select how you want to communicate. You’ll be prompted to do this after you’ve linked your number and before you start using the app, and it will help our Relay Assistants better handle your calls.

You can choose from:

–       I’ll be typing and reading (suitable if you’re deaf or hard-of-hearing)

–       I’ll be typing and hearing (recommended if you’re speech-impaired, as this mutes the line)

–       I’ll be speaking and reading (use if you’re deaf or hard-of-hearing and can talk clearly)

If you want to change your communication preference later, just choose the one you want under ‘Settings’ and ‘Relay preferences’.

4. Option to Back up & restore your data

If you’re using the Relay UK app on an iPhone, iPad or Android device*, you can back up your Favourite phrases, Relay preferences and Saved calls to your cloud account. This allows you to restore this data if you install Relay UK to a new device, or if you need to reinstall to your existing device at a later date.

Allow the app to back up data before you finish setting up, or change this in ‘Settings’ under ‘Cloud backup’ at a later time.

This feature isn’t currently available on the Windows 10 Desktop or Mac computer versions of the app.

* Relay UK is not supported on Chromebook

5. Done

You’re now set up and ready to go!

You can now use the app to make and answer calls
RNID Hearing Aid User Support Services

Click here to access info on the RNID Hearing Aid User Support Service

Click for RNID Near You Support Sessions for NHS Hearing Aid Users 2024

Bangor, Ards and Peninsula Sessions 2025

Newcastle, Lisburn, Hillsborough & Downpatrick Sessions 2025
ID card for people with sight loss

Eye can Master from Northern Trust on Vimeo.
2014 Belfast Statement

Irish Sign Language- ISL version of The Belfast Statement on Mental Health and Deafness – YouT ube

British Sign Language- BSL version of Belfast Statement on Mental Health and Deafness – YouTube

International Sign Language- IS version of The Belfast Statement on Mental Health and Deafness – YouTube
Newsletter

Click Here to read the most recent edition of our newsletter
Deaf Cancer Support Service

Click here to access the leaflet on the support service