A health watchdog has issued a damning report into the services for deaf people in Enfield.

The report, issued by Healthwatch Enfield and Enfield Disability Action, condemns NHS services in the borough, citing a lack of interpreters and poor facilities leading to patients missing GP appointments.

Following a survey carried out over a year, the groups described the number of interpreters available as "shocking".

One patient was told by a receptionist to bring his wife in to interpret his appointment.

In another, a woman was told she had had a heart attack by a member of staff who wrote it down using a pen and paper.

One patient said: “I was knocked down by a car and taken to accident and emergency; I couldn’t get an interpreter for six hours and had to cope without knowing what was happening.”

The report reads: “There have been incidences where no interpreter has been available and deaf patients are left not being able to communicate, unaware whether the medical staff have been able to diagnose their condition, or of what treatment they may be receiving.”

Healthwatch Enfield also reported many GP services in the borough do not have a hearing aid loop to enable deaf people to hear when their appointments are called, resulting in people missing their slots.

Healthwatch Enfield chief executive Lorna Reith described the treatment of deaf people as “shocking.”

She said: “The experiences local Deaf people told us about were shocking. It is clear that many of them face considerable barriers to health care and are getting a poor service which puts their health at risk.

“We are calling on providers to act on the recommendations in this report, most of which involve little, if any, extra money.”

An estimated 254 people in Enfield are registered with Enfield Council or known to the EDA as deaf, with 139 recorded as being deaf without speech.

In addition, 23,657 people were recorded in 2012 as having moderate or severe hearing loss.

Liane Burn, EDA chief executive, said “We have been working with deaf residents for many years and know that many of these issues have been raised before.

“It is now 20 years since legislation outlawing discrimination against disabled people was passed and completely unacceptable that deaf residents should still be struggling to access services.”

An NHS England spokeswoman said: “Although commissioning decisions about hearing services are the responsibility of local NHS commissioners, hearing loss can have a profound effect on an individual's health and well-being and it is important that people have access to appropriate care. This is why NHS England and the Department of Health have recently issued an action plan on hearing loss.”