Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Paragraph: 125
NHS health and publicly funded social care services are legally required, by the Accessible Information...
Recommendation
NHS health and publicly funded social care services are legally required, by the Accessible Information Standard, published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, to provide health and care information to patients and service users in a way they can understand. The aim is to ensure a consistent approach to identifying and meeting the information and communication needs of patients and 46 Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: full Report service users, their carers and families. Disabled people’s experiences of inaccessible public health information from the Government during this pandemic have been unacceptable. Disabled people have been put at risk through lack of access to vital information. Their communication needs should have been anticipated as a matter of course. Everyone should have the right to receive public health information in a format they can understand. We recommend the Accessible Information Standard be extended to apply to all public health messages from government departments.
Paragraph Reference:
125
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
It is really important that information that is meant to be for everyone is made accessible for everyone. This includes patients, people who use services, parents and carers with a disability. The NHS and some social care organizations have to meet rules about accessible information called the Accessible Information Standard (AIS). The AIS does not include government departments. But other laws say all government departments must try to: ● stop people being treated unfairly ● make things more equal for people who belong to groups of people often treated unfairly (like women, disabled people and others) ● help people who belong to a group of people often treated unfairly get on well with others. For more information about these groups of people, called protected characteristics, please see www.equalityhumanrights.com/en Government has a group called the Equality Hub which tries to make things more equal and fairer. They told all Government Departments last year about what the law says and how they need to make sure coronavirus information is accessible. This included help on how to do it well. The Government really wants to make coronavirus information more accessible and has plans to make sure everyone who needs it gets it.