Excellence Award

We have been rewarded for being accessible to deaf people.

We were awarded at Action on Hearing Loss Cymru’s Excellence Wales Awards for our work in ensuring that frontline staff receive deaf-awareness training, that deaf staff are supported in the workplace and that customers with hearing loss can use text message or British Sign Language interpreters to contact us.

We walked away with the Service Excellence Award, decided by an independent panel of people who are deaf or have hearing loss.

The charity’s annual awards recognise businesses that take steps to make their services accessible to the 575,500 people in Wales who are deaf or have hearing loss.

Speaking at the ceremony, WPD’s Karen Welch said, “Being accessible to deaf people is very important, and this is especially true during a power cut or emergency. We know that our efforts have made a positive difference to both staff and customers so we’re delighted to have won this award.

“We recognise the importance of ensuring that deaf and hard of hearing people are able to communicate with us and we’re looking to continuing to enhance our service in the years to come.”

L-R Rebecca Woolley of Action on Hearing Loss Cymru and Karen Welch of Western Power Distribution

Four other awards were also decided by the independent panel with the People’s Choice Award which was sponsored by ourselves and chosen by a public vote.

The full list of winners was:

People’s Choice Award sponsored by Western Power Distribution
Winner: Dental Clinical Board, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

Excellence in Health Award (over 30 employees)
Winner: Dental Clinical Board, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

Excellence in Health Award (under 30 employees)
Winner: Llandough Pulmonary Rehab Centre, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

Excellence in Arts and EntertainmentAward (over 30 employees)
Winner: Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

Excellence in Arts and EntertainmentAward (under 30 employees)
Winner: Get the Chance

Service Excellence Award
Winner: Western Power Distribution

Rebecca Woolley, Director of Action on Hearing Loss Cymru, said, “The judging panel had the difficult job of deciding the winners from an impressive shortlist, but I think they have done a fantastic job. All our winners prove that simple changes can make the lives of people with hearing loss more manageable on a day-to-day basis.

“I hope that organisations across Wales are inspired by our winners and start thinking about the simple changes they can make to ensure their services are accessible to the one-in-six people who are deaf or have hearing loss.”

The Excellence Awards were established by Action on Hearing Loss Cymru in 2015 to recognise businesses and organisations that take steps to support the one in six people in Wales who have varying degrees of hearing loss.

The awards were held at Cardiff’s St David’s Hotel on 4 May, presented by ITV Wales News reporter Megan Boot.