The new initiative comes after Borders MSP Jeremy Purvis took up the case of two deaf constituents who had encountered difficulty communicating with the audiology department.

Mr Purvis discovered the unit had no text phone or SMS service, which he described as “not acceptable” and resulted in the Lib Dem writing to NHS Borders to outline his concerns.

NHS Borders has since confirmed an email account is to be set up to allow deaf or hard-of-hearing patients to make appointments or contact staff within the department.

In a letter to Mr Purvis, former chief executive John Glennie said: “I can assure you that NHS Borders is committed to making our services accessible to members of the community who have additional communication needs.

“Having reviewed the current communications channels available to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, we have decided to pilot the use of email correspondence within the audiology department.”

But Mr Glennie added: “It will take several weeks before the email system is fully operational as we need to ensure that a safe and robust system is in place before it is publicly available.”

Mr Glennie said that NHS Borders staff are meeting with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network (Borders) to discuss how to make their services more accessible.

Mr Purvis has campaigned alongside the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network (Borders) for additional services for deaf people among the emergency services, GP practices and the BGH.

And although NHS Borders has not yet committed to SMS services, the MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale believes progress is being made.

He said: “I am very pleased about this and I commend NHS Borders for acting so swiftly to address an issue of very obvious concern for many people who are profoundly deaf or have hearing difficulties.

“When I was approached by constituents raising the issue I was very concerned and I immediately contacted to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network to do some joint work.

“When I wrote to the chief executive I made clear that I was in no way making comment on the very hard work of the staff on the front line in the department at the BGH, but rather the procedures needed to be looked at again.”

He added: “Work is ongoing looking at SMS systems and email booking at a community level and with GPs, and I am offering full support to this initiative.”

Last month, emergency services across the United Kingdom agreed to pilot an SMS scheme after a long-running campaign which included pressure from Mr Purvis and Jean Proudfoot of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network (Borders).