All organisations that provide NHS or adult social care must following the Accessible Information Standards (AIS) in full from 31st July 2016.
The AIS aims to make sure that disabled people have access to information that they can understand and any communication support they might need.
The standards tells organisations how to make information accessible to the following people:
- Patients
- Service users
- Their carers and parents
This includes making sure that people get information in different formats if they need it, such as:
- Large print
- Braille
- Easy read
- Via email
The AIS also tells organisations how to support people’s communication needs. As part of the AIS organisations must:
- Ask people if they have information or communication needs and find out how to meet their needs
- Record those needs in a set way
- Highlight a person’s file so it is clear that they have information or communication needs, and clearly explain how those needs should be met
- Share information about a person’s needs with other NHS and adult social care providers, when they have permission or consent to do so
- Make sure that people get information in an accessible way and communication support if they need it
We will always do our best to try and provide this information as soon as possible but in some cases this may not be an instant service and further enquiries may need to be made.
Additional information can be found by following the links below: