Welcome NHS professionals
This page is primarily for:
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NHS managers (Practice Managers, IT, communications and patient information managers, Equality and diversity managers).
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Health professionals (clinicians and patient facing staff).
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Commissioners.
NHS managers
Have you got your plan in place to empower healthcare professionals?
Good will is not in short supply but to translate good intentions into action, healthcare professionals must be empowered to provide information in accessible formats. This means:
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Training them about the health information needs of blind and partially sighted people and the consequences of inaccessible information.
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Ensuring there are clear policies, processes and systems for assessing individual needs and then meeting them.
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Ensuring there are clear routes for obtaining the resources needed to provide accessible information.
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Dispelling myths about the health information requirements and preferences of blind and partially sighted people.
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Using 'choice architecture' (a social marketing technique) to prompt healthcare professionals to ask patients about their reading needs. Examples include electronic prompts, providing incentives, or assessing healthcare professionals to encourage them to ask patients about their reading needs.
Health professionals
Are you meeting your patients' information needs?
Dr Foster research recommends all healthcare professionals should carry out individual needs assessments, to record individual reading requirements and to ensure that accessible information is delivered by implementing systems and planning resources.
For example, this may mean:
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In GP practices, carrying out a needs assessment upon registration of any new blind or partially sighted patient, logging their needs on internal computer systems, and ensuring that there is an electronic prompt to consider health information needs whenever a patient's file is opened or a referral is being made.
Commissioners
Are you commissioning inclusive health services?
Dr Foster research recommends commissioners working for primary care trusts and health boards need to:
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Have a clear policy that specifically sets out how the health information needs of blind and partially sighted people will be met (pan-disability policies are not specific enough to translate into action).
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Contractually oblige service providers to meet the health information needs of blind and partially sighted people and to assess them against specific objectives (e.g. investigating individual access requirements, recording these details on patient information systems and providing appropriate staff training).
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Provide, circulate and promote guidance on how to meet the information requirements of blind and partially sighted people.
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Improve lines of communication with frontline providers, so that they are aware of policies, processes, systems and support for meeting the health information requirements of blind and partially sighted people.
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Promote proactive provision of accessible health information, rather than relying on blind and partially sighted people to ask for it themselves.
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Promote accessible information as a mainstream element of patient choice rather than a special provision, in order to combat fears about stigmatisation expressed by blind and partially sighted people.
Showcasing good practice
We know one of the best ways to make progress is to recognise positive action and promote it to help motivate others.
If you are responsible for managing or directing NHS services, delivering NHS care or supplying solutions to this sector, please tell us about the positive steps you have taken towards delivering accessible information to patients. Tell us how patients and the service benefit from these changes as we'd like to share the good news on this page.
Tell us how you make a difference by email to campaign@rnib.org.uk or phone 020 7391 2123.
How NHS is working towards an inclusive health service
Here's what NHS organisations tell us they are doing to meet their equality duty:
Communication, Translating and Interpreting Guidelines - Liverpool PCT
Accessible Information Policy and Guidelines - Weston General Hospital
Making NHS information accessible - Scottish Accessible Information forum
Production of Accessible Information - Department of Health
New Access Guide out for GP Practice Managers - how to make a better experience for patients with sight loss section 6.3