Accessible information standard
The Accessible Information Standard means all NHS Trust's must offer reasonable adjustments to help people with disabilities or sensory loss to fully understand the information we give them. It applies to both communication during an appointment and any information we provide to take away.
There are five core requirements of the Standard we must adhere to for everyone we serve. These are:
- Identifying needs: identify what communication / information needs you may have relating to a disability or sensory loss.
- Recording needs: record your needs in a clear, unambiguous and standardised way in electronic and paper notes.
- Flagging needs: ensure that your recorded needs are 'highly visible' and prompt our staff to act whenever they look at your notes.
- Sharing needs: include information about your information / communication needs when sharing information with other services or referring to other parts of the NHS and social care.
- Meeting needs: take steps to ensure you receive communication support if you need it and information which you can access and understand.
If you require any information or leaflets to be provided to you in a different format, please raise this with your clinician at your next appointment. We will record your needs for all future appointments.
What we can offer now
It is our responsibility as an NHS organisation to follow the Standard, and in order to meet the needs of the patients and carers we serve, we offer the following services:
- British sign language interpreting in appointments
- Hearing loops in most waiting areas and clinics. Please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) to check whether the service you are planning to visit has a hearing loop available. Details for contacting our PALS team are below
- Braille
- large print
- audio
- easy read
- contact by text or email
- health/communication passports
One of the fundamental principles of the Standard is that our patients, service users, carers and parents are asked to self-define their information and/or communication support needs, and that these needs (rather than disabilities) are recorded.
If your requirements are not being met, please let us know so we can fix this. Please talk to your clinician about this first. If for any reason you're not getting the support you need you can contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) team on 0800 368 0412 or email clchpals@nhs.net.
Other services we offer
As well as providing information in different formats, we also offer interpreting services to those people whose first language is not English. If you would like any information or publications we offer in your language, please talk to your clinician.