Making Health and Social Care Information Accessible

Making health and social care information accessible - Report of engagement activity published by NHS England (NHSE)

NHSE states that is has committed to the development and implementation of a new Information Standard for accessible information and communication.

The standard aims to:

• Establish a consistent, standardised framework and approach to the identification and recording of the information and communication needs of patients, service users, carers and parents, where they relate to a disability, impairment or sensory loss;
• Establish ‘flags,’ alerts, prompts and other mechanisms to ensure that such needs are highly visible to appropriate staff; and
• Set out clear expectations as to how such needs should be met, supported or addressed.

An update about progress to date with the project and next steps was published in late June, and can be viewed on the NHSE website.

Following engagement activity to inform the development of the standard during November 2013 – February 2014, a report has now been published. This is also available from the NHSE website –  in a range of accessible formats. NHSE would like to thank everyone who contributed as part of this phase.

A formal consultation on the draft standard is scheduled to begin in August 2014, and will run for 12 weeks. Further details will be available soon.