- Aim: To enable people who are deaf or hard of hearing to make informed decisions about their lives.
- Impact: We continue to provide free, impartial information
on a range of subjects, including hearing aids, tinnitus, communication,
employment, equipment, legislation and benefits. This helps people to
find out more about their hearing loss or how to manage their tinnitus,
as well as the equipment and services that can support them and to which
they are entitled. In the past year, our
Information Line and Tinnitus Helpline responded to more than 31,000
requests for information. Across the UK our information teams provided
information directly to more than 35,000 people, by organising or attending
events. Our
website received more than 66,000 unique visitors per month.
See our impact in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Aim: To provide high-quality information and aftercare services for people who wear hearing aids.
- Impact: We created our community-based Hear
to Help projects, which provide simple maintenance, support and advice
to new hearing aid wearers, and to the families and carers of existing
wearers. By enabling people to make better use of their aids, Hear to
Help leads to greater independence and reduces the risk of isolation.
It also plays a part in rehabilitation, befriending and equipment assessment.
We have 10 Hear to Help projects around the UK, reaching 20,000 people.
We have encouraged health professionals to recognise the value of Hear
to Help in relieving the strain on 'mainstream' audiology services by
establishing new contracts and funding for Hear to Help from four Primary
Care Trusts in England.
See our impact in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Aim: To enable people who are deaf or hard of hearing to secure employment and lead independent lives.
- Impact: We delivered advice and guidance to 857 new jobseekers, almost half (42%) of whom had additional needs, so they could gain the skills needed to enter the labour market. We helped 95 jobseekers secure employment, of whom nearly 70 were still in work after three months. 177 people who are deaf or hard of hearing have accessed our IT training, Basic Skills and other learning activities.
- Aim: To work towards better mental health services for people who are deaf.
- Impact: We have part funded and been involved in developing
the Certificate in Mental Health and Deafness with the University of Birmingham,
which will provide excellent learning and development for staff working
with people who are deaf and have mental health needs, including RNID
staff. We have also worked with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG)
to develop a DVD in British Sign Language (BSL) which explains the Mental
Capacity Act to people who are deaf. This is distributed by OPG nationally
and has been hugely popular with more than 1,000 DVDs requested ensuring
that people who are deaf are more aware of their rights.
See our impact in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.To view this BSL video you need to install the Flash Player and ensure Javascript is enabled in your browser
- Aim: To change established attitudes and behaviour in society towards hearing loss and the use of hearing aids.
- Impact: The advertising agency M&C Saatchi has been working
with us (on a pro bono basis) to produce a major attitude and awareness
campaign to be launched at the end of 2009.
We promoted our telephone hearing check at all the major political party conferences and at events run in partnership with local councils and private companies. Information about the check was also widely circulated to the general public and over 1,400 checks were carried out by trained staff and volunteers using handheld checkers at a range of events, from biomedical conferences to health exhibitions. We sent 500 hearing check packs (on request) to employers, and postcards and posters to 200 libraries. We promoted hearing health messages through the Royal British Legion, British Association of Shooting and Conservation, and Age Concern leading to greater levels of awareness amongst key audiences at risk of hearing loss.
- Aim: To ensure that cochlear implants are routinely available to adults and children who could benefit from them – and that those who could gain substantial additional benefit from an implant in each ear are offered two.
- Impact: Thanks to the lobbying of RNID, NDCS and other
charities, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
introduced new guidance in January 2009. Cochlear implants in both ears
are now recommended for two groups of people who where previously excluded
from routinely being funded on the NHS: adults with severe to profound
deafness who are blind or have other disabilities that affect their spatial
awareness; and all children with severe to profound deafness who don't
get enough benefit from hearing aids.
We also produced groundbreaking research with the Ear Foundation to support our case and provide guidance to schools to ensure that children with cochlear implants can get the best support at school and don't miss out on the benefits of their implants.
- Aim: To make it easy for people to learn more about their hearing health.
- Impact: As part of the major European HearCom research
project, we led the introduction of a unique online guide called HearCompanion,
which provides information to patients at every step of their journey
allowing them to be better informed about their hearing and potential
hearing loss.
Our telephone, internet and handheld hearing checks now include improved options for callers to request more information about their level of hearing loss.
- Aim: To continue to build relationships with corporate partners for fundraising purposes.
- Impact: In September 2008, RNID was chosen as The
Co-operative Charity of the year for 2009. The partnership was launched
nationally in January, with regional launches taking place across the
UK at over 160 Co-operative Food stores. Since then, employees from across
The Co-operative have been aiming to raise £2m for our Hear
to Help projects, which support and provide information to people
with hearing aids. Their fundraising will also help us to make improvements
to a number of our Care Services projects. Through the partnership we
have benefited from a cause-related marketing campaign with Procter &
Gamble and other suppliers have supported RNID at corporate balls and
golf days. The Co-operative has supported our Hearing Check campaign and
raised awareness about deafness and hearing loss to the public by promoting
the check in-store and to its 120,000 employees.
See our impact in Scotland.
- Aim: To create opportunities for people to be more actively involved in our work.
- Impact: We work with volunteers to deliver community-based
services, including outreach information and Hear
to Help, the service that helps clients make the most of their hearing
aids. Most of our volunteers have a hearing loss themselves and are happy
to share their experiences and offer advice to clients, carers and professionals.
RNID Campaigns Network Members participated in the first ever meetings in the European Parliament to use a state-of-the-art infrared system that assists hearing aid wearers. They successfully lobbied the Parliament to install this system in its visitor centre and iconic debating chamber.
We appointed a Head of Volunteering Development who has simplified our recruitment process to make us more accessible to potential volunteers. We have put good practice into action, including regularly thanking our volunteers and acknowledging their contribution, which is helping to increase volunteer numbers and commitment.
- Aim: To make volunteer bureaux, and organisations offering volunteer placements, more accessible to prospective volunteers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Impact: We have increased the numbers of volunteers who are deaf or hard of hearing by supporting them in their volunteer roles. We have delivered deaf awareness and communication training to staff and volunteers within volunteering organisations and distributed our Volunteer Support Pack to targeted organisations.
- Aim: To ensure that we continue to receive valuable support from our members and to enable them to get the most from their membership.
- Impact: 369 members upgraded their membership to Life Membership status, creating extra revenue for RNID and allowing members to enjoy a range of new, extra benefits. We created 'Your say', a members-only part of our website where members can share information and experiences relating to deafness and hearing loss and published The Facts about Hearing Aids, a clear, accessible, 'one-stop' publication, free to members.