IA2493 Communicator Guide Service

This Service Specification is for the provision of a Communicator Guide Service to be delivered across Staffordshire, excluding Stoke on Trent.

Communicator Guides will offer support to Eligible Adults (aged 18 and above) with Sensory Needs who may have been born with sight loss or have been Deaf since birth or early childhood and subsequently acquired a Dual Sensory Loss or have acquired a Dual Sensory Loss later in life. The incidence of Dual Sensory Loss is greatest in older people who have acquired both sight loss and hearing Loss (1 in 20 of Deafblind people with Dual Sensory Loss are aged 70 and older).

Communicator Guides will also support Deaf people where they have complex needs around access to information, communication, language and accessing the wider community.