Clarion is amazingly pleased to announce that we have been successful in winning a contract to provide British Sign Language Interpreters to Deaf patients and hearing customers at Guys and St Thomas’s NHS Hospital Trust. This contract runs for 3 years.

We have been working in partnership with the language support unit at Guys and St Thomas’s for over a year now, and often provide BSL Interpreters at short notice and for emergencies.

Attending hospital can often be an unnerving process; imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t say where the problem was, or understand what the doctor was saying to you? With our interpreters, BSL users and hearing people can now understand each other clearly and with no confusion. In some hospitals, deaf people understand what is going on by using a family member; however there is no confidentiality in this situation. Alternatively, they may use an unqualified stage two communicator, and crucial information can be misunderstood. Because of the high standards that Guys and Clarion have set, all our interpreters abide by a code of ethics that includes confidentiality and are trained to NVQ 4 standard. All our interpreters are also registered with the relevant registration bodies and are CRB checked at an enhanced level.

Michael Smith, who manages the PALS department said
“Clarion is the best agency we have ever worked with; they are efficient, able to supply at short notice and reasonable priced”

Clarion has a uniquely diverse customer base covering the Public and Private sectors, with over 600 customers. We pride ourselves on our professionalism, flexibility and consistently high standards in the provision of support for BSL users. For more information or to enquire about our services, please contact Paul Jespersen on 01223 870045 or

E-mail:

paul@clarioncall.net

Support for deaf students – Clarion starts a co-ordinated service.

Clarion Interpreting Limited is an organisation based in Cambridge that supplies BSL Interpreters and Communication Support Workers to deaf and hard of hearing people across the Eastern Region. We are registered with CACDP as a centre and have 7 office staff , 6 BSL Interpreters and 2 Qualified Communication Support workers. We also have a database of over 100 freelancers on our books that we can call on at short notice.

We have been established for four years and are both proud and excited to announce some new developments. Last year we supported 16 deaf students in higher and further education by providing a variety of services – speech to text reporters, pallantypists, written notetakers, lipspeakers communication support workers and BSL Interpreters. This support has been across the eastern region including politics students at Cambridge University, postgraduate management students at Kettering, physiotherapists at Kings College University and hairdressers at Kensington.

The feedback from the students and the colleges has been great, so this academic year we aim to provide a fully co-ordinated service across the country. We now have a full time co-ordinator called Breanne Cook who used to work for the RNID and 2 CSW’s including Rhys Crotch who comes to us from Mayfield Primary School and the NDCS. We have a large database of support workers and registered interpreters who specialize in educational work but need to make sure that we have as many people as possible available for support for the next academic year. For support workers we provide training, employment opportunities and bursaries as well social events. If you are a deaf student or organize support for deaf students and would like us to come and do a presentation or meet to discuss your needs please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you would like to register with us or discuss your support needs please contact Breanne Cook on 01223 870840, textphone 01223 870045 fax 01223 874440 or e-mail us:

E-mail:

education@clarioncall.net