NHS England accused of ‘slowing through’ on new accessibility procedures

NHS England has been accused of being “too slow” in introducing new accessibility procedures, leading to people with disabilities routinely struggling to access healthcare and experiencing canceled appointments.

The Accessible Information Standard (AIS), originally implemented in 2016, was part of legislation designed to ensure that NHS and social care service providers ensure that people with disabilities can meet their accessibility requirements when accessing healthcare and social care.

In 2022, NHS England accepted a recommendation to revise the AIS, which had stronger wording than the original, meaning providers of NHS care must “comply with the information standard”, while the previous standard said providers must only “take into account an information standard”. The updated standard was intended to be published in 2023, but its publication has been postponed.

Charities and organizations have said the delay has left many deaf patients unable to make GP appointments and receive test results, as the health service often relies on phone calls.

Abigail Gorman, policy and research manager at SignHealth, accused the NHS of doing its best to improve access, which was ‘letting deaf people down and putting our lives at risk’.

She added: “For deaf people, poor access to healthcare is unfortunately one of the most common and sometimes life-threatening barriers we face. The updated AIS will improve access for deaf patients somewhat, but that is not enough and the process takes too long.

“The NHS is not taking basic access for patients seriously enough. We are calling on NHS England to publish the updated AIS and provide sufficient resources for the next steps needed to implement it.”

Ken*, a man in his thirties from London who comes from an ethnic minority background and identifies as profoundly Deaf with British Sign Language as his first language, said the lack of interpreters at his NHS appointments meant he often had to have his mother translate, which led to led to further problems.

“There was no information provided to me in an accessible format, so I relied on my mother,” he said. “No matter what the healthcare provider explained, my mother told me very little. I much prefer to give my own story and explain my symptoms and how it affects me, but this was communicated through my mother. She is not a proficient BSL level, she has only reached level one, so there are a lot of gaps in information going both ways.

He added that it was often not made clear to him whether an interpreter would be provided, and that they sometimes showed up halfway to his appointment. “They do not meet my need for an interpreter and I cannot rely on written English because English is not my native language,” he said.

Victoria Boelman, director of insight and policy at the Royal National Institute of Deaf People (RNID), said: “The lack of access to healthcare faced by deaf people and those with hearing loss is a hidden national scandal. It is disturbing that people miss life-changing diagnoses and treatment information on a daily basis, are forced to give up their right to privacy regarding their health, and experience negative attitudes and behaviors from healthcare professionals.”

An NHS spokesperson said: “All NHS services have a legal duty to provide clear and appropriate methods of communication to ensure patients, service users and carers can understand everything they need about their treatment and care.”

*This name has been changed.