Updated Accessible Information Standard is now available

Healthwatch Wokingham
Jul 15
4 min read

NHS England has published the long-awaited updates to the Accessible Information Standard (AIS)

The AIS was first published in 2016 to ensure people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss could receive healthcare in an accessible format and have access to communication support, such as British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters.

All organisations that provide NHS or publicly funded adult social care services, including hospitals and GPs, must have ‘due regard’ to the new standard.

What has changed?

Changes to the AIS standard include:

A new and sixth, “review” stage requiring NHS and publicly funded adult social care services to proactively check that patients’ and service users’ needs are up to date in their records and that they are being met. This is in addition to the five stages asking services to identify, record, flag, share, and meet people’s communication needs.
All health and social care organisations should appoint a senior named role responsible for overseeing that the standard is being implemented.
Clarifying the role of commissioners, such as Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and councils, who should ensure that providers in their area follow the standard.
An expectation on all providers and commissioners to identify an AIS lead responsible for ensuring the standard is met, as well as an executive-level role holder with responsibility for the standard in their remit.
An expectation that all NHS and social care organisations assess how well they are meeting the standard. This can be achieved through a new NHS provider self-assessment tool, with the first assessments expected to be completed by March 2027.

Six things that you should expect from organisations that provide NHS or adult social care:

You should be asked if you have any communication needs, and asked how these needs can be met.
Your needs should be recorded in a clear and set way.
Your file or notes should highlight these communication needs so people are aware and know how to meet them.
Information about your communication needs should be shared with other providers of NHS and adult social care, when they have consent or permission to do so.
Information should be delivered to you in a way you can access and understand, with the option for communication support if needed.
All organisations must have a senior AIS lead and must review how they are meeting the Accessible Information Standard. They should use the Self Assessment Frameworks to monitor how well they are implementing the AIS.

What do I do if my communications needs are not met?

If you believe your local health service is failing to meet your communications needs, there are a number of things you can do:

Give feedback or make a formal complaint via the NHS or council complaints processes – read our guide here on making a complaint.
Share your experience with your local Healthwatch team or the Care Quality Commission, which inspects services, as they could use it to build a picture of problems with certain services and take further action
Contact a local councillor or your local MP.

You can also contact the following organisations for support if you have a disability or sensory impairment:

RNIB – for people who have a visual impairment.

RNID – for people who have a hearing impairment.

SignHealth – for deaf people.

Sense – support for people who are deafblind.

Mind - support for people living with mental health problems.

The work of Healthwatch England

In 2022, our national body Healthwatch England launched the Your Care, Your Way campaign to highlight the urgent need to strengthen the AIS and raise awareness of its shortcomings.

The research followed feedback from over 6,000 people from across England who have sensory impairments, disabled people, and their careers.

Our Freedom of Information request to NHS trusts uncovered that out of 139 trusts who responded, only a third (35%) told us they are fully compliant with the AIS.

We subsequently sat on an NHS England stakeholder advisory, alongside national charities such as RNID and RNIB, to make the case for a stronger AIS.

We also wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to call for a fully mandatory standard.

What are the next steps?

Healthwatch England will work with NHSE as it prepares a case for the Department of Health and Social Care on making the standard mandatory.

We will also promote people’s rights under the Equality Act 2010 to reasonable adjustments from services to meet their needs and we will urge providers to begin self-assessments as soon as possible.

We will remind the public of their right to use the NHS complaints process to get services to respond to any concerns that their communication and disability needs are not being met.

Share your experiences and views with us

Please share your views and experiences on local health and social care services (the good or bad) as your feedback continues to drive improvements in care for everyone. Your voice matters!