DEAF people in Hillingdon are to get more support with access to their GPs surgery after a web based program was launched.

Sign, a charity dedicated to helping deaf people with health problems introduced a revolutionary system SignHealth which enables healthcare professionals to communicate with patients who use British Sign Language (BSL) at the "click of a mouse".

Managing Director of SignHealth Ltd, Phil Murden, said: "We don't intend SignHealth to be a replacement for a face-to-face interpreter, but for certain types of consultation, it can give deaf patients in Hillingdon the option to have an appointment with their GP immediately."

He added: "SignHealth will also help Hillingdon GPs to meet their legal obligations under the Disability and Discrimination Act 1995 which requires that disabled people have the same access as everyone else to GPs services."

In common with the rest of the country, Hillingdon has a desperate shortage of fully qualified sign language interpreters.

This means that deaf people in Hillingdon may have to book an appointment with their GP weeks ahead, to be sure of having the support of a sign language interpreter at the consultation.

But with the new program they can have a fully interactive two-way communication with a live BSL interpreter using a simple web-cam.