Access to braille or large print
Research from RNIB shows that 95 per cent of blind and partially sighted people are never asked and rarely receive confidential information from NHS staff in large print, email and Braille or other formats they can read.
Blind and partially sighted people in Notts believe they are being treated differently than other patients and their safety, confidentiality and choices are routinely compromised.
Today, Friday 29 January, The Nottingham Royal Society of the Blind (NRSB) and The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) co-host an event in Nottingham that brings together blind and partially sighted people and representatives from Notts NHS, to find solutions to the problems blind and partially sighted people face in obtaining and reading health information.
Queens Medical Centre
Kathryn Deering, 53, from West Bridgford in Nottingham is partially sighted as the result of having Uveitis. Kathryn can read large print in font size 18 but prior to having eye operations and other procedures at the Queens Medical Centre, she has been asked to sign consent forms that she can't read. She has never received a letter from the NHS in large print and has additional problems reading information supplied with her eye drops written in small print.
Kathryn said: "People would assume the eye clinic and Ophthalmology department at the QMC, which has provided me with good treatment, would understand how important it is to provide information to eye patients like me in large print. But they clearly don't."
"How can somebody who can't see property be expected to read something as important as a consent form when it's written in standard print?"
When telephoning the hospital Kathryn is asked to provide a reference number from her appointment letter. "How do I confirm the number when it's so difficult to see. I could read consent forms and hospital letters if they were written in large print - it's not rocket science!"
Losing Patients
Research from RNIB's Losing Patients campaign report also found that, 72 per cent of blind and partially sighted people said they are unable to read information from their GP.
81 per cent are unable to read medicine instructions and safety notices. Only one per cent wanted their health information given to them by a carer or relative.
Details from appointment letters to instructions for taking medication are routinely provided in standard print that is, for too many people, unreadable.
Kathryn Deering added: "I don't blame front line staff who lets face it, can only work with what they have. It's the decision makers within the NHS and PCT who need to make certain that large print and other formats blind and partially sighted people read are available to all patients."
Communication failures
Ruth Stockdale RNIB's Campaigns Officer for the East Midlands said: "RNIB's research shows the NHS is failing to communicate with blind and partially sighted people and is treating them less fairly then other patients. Within the NHS the needs of patients who speak other languages are quite correctly taken seriously. The same can't be said of people whose sight problems don't allow them to read standard print. Health service providers are under an obligation to provide patients with equal access to health information. The majority of them are failing to meet that obligation."
Health service providers failing to provide accessible information are likely to be in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995.
Michael Conroy, Chief Executive from the Nottingham Royal Society for the Blind said: "We support RNIB's 'Losing Patients' campaign because we know, only too well, that blind and partially sighted people in our area receive important health information in formats that they can't read.
He added: "Many blind and partially sighted people have to rely on other people to read confidential and highly sensitive health information out loud. And as for prescribed medicine - who would want to take it without first being able to read the label?"
RNIB will work with local associations from across the country to support blind and partially sighted people to help them to find out about their legal rights in this area and to feel empowered to ask for information in a format they can read.
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Further information
For further media information please contact Bill Alker at RNIB Press Office on 0115 987 1522 Or 0207 391 2223, (out of hours mobile: 07968 482812).
The event is taking place at: Life at the Centre (also known as the central Methodist church), 22 Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham. From 10.30 to 11.30 arriving from 10am, Friday 29 January 2010.
The research: RNIB commissioned Dr Foster to investigate the experiences of 600 blind and partially sighted people across the UK who had used NHS services in the last twelve months. The study also investigated the views of healthcare professionals in both primary and secondary care. Dr Foster conducted the study between July and November 2008. The Losing Patients campaign is based on the findings of this research.
Headline findings
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95 per cent of blind and partially sighted people said they were not asked by NHS staff what format they required when they were given information.
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81 per cent said they did not get information about their prescribed medicines, such as dosage instructions and warnings, in a format they could read.
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72 per cent reported the information they received from their GP was not in an accessible format.
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22 per cent said they had missed an appointment because the appointment letter was not in an accessible format.
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Only one per cent of blind and partially sighted people said they wanted written information given via a carer or relative but 28 per cent of health professionals wrongly thought blind and partially sighted people wanted information in this way.
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73 per cent of healthcare professionals either said their organisation does not have a clear policy on the provision of accessible information or they did not know if it did.
Further notes to editors:
For more information visit www.rnib.org.uk/losingpatients <http://www.rnib.org.uk/losingpatients> .
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