Call for Action on Accessible Information Standard

Date posted: 6th February 2023

Thomas Pocklington Trust has joined together with a coalition of eight other charities to write to NHS England to voice our frustration over the slow progress in reviewing the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which ensures patients receive healthcare information they can read and understand.

As part of our #MakeHealthAccessible campaign, we have been calling for improvements to the AIS and secured a commitment from NHS England for a review of the standard and action to strengthen its effectiveness.

But a year later, there’s no update on when the review will be published or how changes will be implemented. Blind and partially sighted people continue to face barriers accessing health information and ensuring it is provided in a format that they can read such as braille, large print or audio.

We’re publicly calling on NHS England to publish the review and clarify how they’ll implement its recommendations.

We are pleased to be working with Healthwatch England, Disability Rights UK, RNIB, National Voices, Learning Disability England, SeeAbility, Sign Health and Mencap to draw attention to this issue.

 

Read our letter to NHS England here.