Communication support needs not met in the NHS, charities say

Dozens of health organisations and charities have expressed concern over a lack of progress in ensuring communication rights for all people trying to access NHS services.

Numerous people are unable to access healthcare services because they are not given appropriate communication support, including British Sign Language, or information in an accessible format.

In response to this, NHS England are reviewing the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), a legal requirement – created in 2016 – to ensure all publicly funded health and social care providers meet the information and communication needs of people who are deaf, blind or have a learning disability.

According to Sense, a charity dedicated to supporting deafblind individuals, 450,000 people in the UK identified as being deafblind and this is expected to rise to over 610,000 by 2035.

Last year, Healthwatch discovered various NHS trusts were not adjusting their services for deaf and blind people. Of the 139 NHS trusts that responded to the organisations Freedom of Information requests, 26% did not record patients communication needs of their file and 57% said staff routinely share patients’ communication needs with other health and care services.

Healthwatch also published results of a poll among people with extra communication needs, which found one in four had been ‘refused’ communication support while accessing NHS care.

Against this backdrop, 38% of people included in the poll said that not being given information in the correct format affected their mental health, whilst 29% said they missed out on important information about their health.

To combat this, charities and organisations including Healthwatch England, Disability Rights UK and Mencap, contributed to a letter to NHS England which said: ‘Our research has shown that in many areas people are not receiving the communication support they needs, and even where services have good processes in place for identifying people’s support needs, these are not consistently met.

‘It has now been close to a year since NHS England announced its intention to review and revise the AIS, and despite lots of good work, we are not confident that there is an organisation-wide plan agreed for roll-out of the new standard’.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo