Accessible Information Standard

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All organisations that provide NHS care and / or publicly-funded adult social care are legally required to follow the Accessible Information Standard. The Standard sets out a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss.

Overview of the standard

The Accessible Information Standard aims to make sure that people who have a disability, impairment of sensory loss get information that they can understand.

Accesible Information Standard - Overview 2017/18

Here is an animated video which provides a step-by-step overview of the Standard. The video includes subtitles and BSL interpretation.

A summary of the Accessible Information Standard can be heard in 5 separate audio tracks below:

A patient’s experience of our services must be positive to encourage the patient to continue to use the service. To support this Alder Hey NHS Trust is implementing the Accessible Information Standard which aims to make sure that disabled people who are our patients, service users and their carers and parents have access to information that they can understand and any communication support they need.

This includes making sure that people get information in different formats if they need it, such as large print, Braille, embossed, easy read, via email and visual/British Sign Language (BSL) etc.

We know that accessible information is a really important way of helping the communication needs of people with learning disabilities. In the UK, it is law that everyone has to make some changes to the information they make and use. Acts are special papers that tell us all about the law. There are two important Acts that are important to Accessible Information;

1. The Equality Act 2020

2. The Mental Capacity Act (2005). This Act talks about 'practicable steps' which means doing everything that is possible to make information easier.

As part of the standard the Trust MUST do five things:

Ask people if they have any information or communication needs, and find out how to meet their needs.
Record those needs in a set way on patient records.
Highlight a person’s file, so it is clear that they have information or communication needs, and clearly explain how these should be met.
Share information about a person’s needs with other Trust Teams/Departments, NHS and adult social care providers, when they have consent or permission to do so.
Act to make sure that people get information in an accessible way and communication support if they need it.