New data reveals 0% capture rate of standard NHS tools and proves “hard-to-reach” label is a systemic fallacy.
Unzippd, the award-winning UK tech company, has released an interim report exposing how traditional NHS feedback mechanisms have fundamentally failed the Deaf BSL community. To address this, Unzippd introduced a BSL-first platform that enabled patients to provide feedback and raise enquiries directly in British Sign Language for the first time. The report reveals that when linguistic barriers are removed, British Sign Language users become the most engaged patient demographic in the borough, disproving the long-standing “hard-to-reach” narrative.
The four-month pilot, running across Wandsworth Medical Centre and Brocklebank Group Practice, has surfaced “missing data” that was previously captured at a rate of 0% by standard tools like the NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT). Despite the BSL community making up only 0.3% of the local population, they provided nearly 70% as much feedback as the hearing majority once provided with a native BSL entry point.
“This data exposes a critical failure of the feedback mechanism, not a lack of patient interest,” says Unzippd CEO Rob Troy. “By moving from a statistical expectation of zero to 13 high-quality responders in just 60 days, we’ve proven that Deaf patients are highly motivated to engage-the system was simply built to ignore them”.
The findings highlight specific systemic failures previously invisible to commissioners, including the “reception barrier” where Deaf patients are forced to travel in-person just to book appointments. The report also exposes the impact of interpreter “no-shows,” providing a new baseline for accountability that standard agency “fulfilment rates” fail to capture.
“Standard feedback tools currently capture 0% of the BSL patient voice in these practices,” adds CTO Adenrele Komolafe. “Our technology surfaces the reality of service delivery versus the ‘blind’ procurement models currently in place. This allows the NHS to target the specific gaps that currently result in billions of pounds of wastage”.
The pilot coincides with the national “Locked Out” report (2025), which highlights a £1.2 billion annual waste in NHS spending due to communication failures and a BSL mental health morbidity rate of 45%. Unzippd is calling on Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to mandate BSL-first feedback channels to stop the £80m-£100m annual financial drain on the Treasury caused by these systemic inequalities.
