Deaf woman repeatedly called by NHS Test and Trace despite checking ‘contact by text’ box

Exclusive: ‘It is rather frustrating to pick an accessible option only to find out it doesn’t exist,’ she says

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A deaf woman was repeatedly called by NHS Test and Trace, despite clicking a box asking to be contacted by text during a period of quarantine.

The woman, who had returned from overseas and was isolating in according with rules, had clicked the option to be contacted via SMS and explained that she was unable to hear.

She toldThe Independent she went on to receive numerous calls from the NHS Test and Trace service over the following days.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was told the service was unable for her situation.

“It is rather frustrating to pick an accessible option only to find out it doesn’t exist,” she told The Independent.

She said she feels like this happens “regularly” for people who are hard of hearing and deaf.

But she adds: “It’s been worse over covid since everything pivoted to phone, so this was just a bit the straw on the camel’s back, as it were.”

The deaf woman, who had to quarantine after foreign travel, said she only answers the phone for scheduled calls or when, by chance, she is at her computer with a teletypewriter app running.

She said she answered the phone to NHS Test and Trace on the first call during two days of quarantine, but had multiple missed calls on other days - despite having ticked a box to be contacted by text.

She told The Independent it was “stressful” to see the missed calls on her phone, as she thought she may be visited at home.

“As an immigrant, when they say that home office enforcement might come by the house, even though I’m obviously completely legal, it’s still stressful,” she said. Despite concerns, she did not receive a home visit.

When she finally asked why she was receiving calls from the NHS Test and Trace service, she told The Independent she was told by an operator it was noted on her passenger locator form that she wanted to be contacted via text, but that service was not available for this situation.

The Department for Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.