01.08.16
NHS providers must now make information accessible for disabled people
Information at all organisations providing health and social care must be made accessible to disabled people under the new Accessible Information Standard, which comes into force today.
Under the Accessible Information Standard, which the NHS has been developing for two years, NHS organisations, including trusts and GP practices, must ask patients if they have information or communication needs and find out how to meet them.
They must then clearly record those needs, ‘flag’ them on the patient’s file, and share them with other providers, with the patient’s permission.
Anu Singh, director of patient and public participation at NHS England, said: “Good quality, accessible health and care information is essential, particularly for patients with the greatest needs.
“We must strive for equality across the health service and this new framework will help patients with disabilities receive improved standards of care and be more involved in how that care is delivered.”
The support needed could include giving information in large print or Braille for patients with visual disabilities or providing a British Sign Language interpreter for patients with hearing problems.
The NHS also recently announced that it is introducing a Quality Checkers Programme so that patients with learning disabilities can assess services to see how they address their needs.
Paul Breckell, chief executive of the charity Action on Hearing Loss, which helped develop the standard, said: “We hope that health and social care professionals will see that far from being a box-ticking exercise, this is a real opportunity to provide better care and better outcomes for patients who have previously faced barriers when accessing health and social care.”
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