Health support for deaf people

By Geoff Adams-Spink
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website

A leading charity says it is to build four residential mental health units to provide specialist care for deaf people.

The Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID) wants to tackle what it calls "the crisis" in mental health provision.

The organisation is to spend £8m on the project, mainly funded by Futurebuilders England.

The units are also funded by a £3m loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The RNID says that many deaf people are trapped in a cycle of continuing admission to mental health care which is often inappropriate for their needs.

The proposed community-based eight-bed residential units should improve communication and long-term recovery.

"The incidence of mental health problems among deaf people is much higher than average," according to John Low, RNID chief executive.

He believes that this is because people are discharged from acute care without community-based support.

"With the mental health sector considerably under-funded - even more so for deaf and hard of hearing people - this project will go a long way to ensure that they are included and have access to appropriate and high quality care."

The charity is already involved in providing residential care, supported housing and community services for people with high-level needs.

All of the mental health units will be built in England, two of them in the Midlands.

The RNID says it has not yet determined the location for the other two.