Your care, your way: meeting communication needs

Healthwatch Shropshire undertook engagement to support the Healthwatch England campaign on the Accessible Information Standard.   They carried out a survey, ran focus groups and attended meetings.  They spoke to 46 people.

The people who completed the survey had various conditions that affected the way they communicate or understand information. The majority of people (78%) said that they received information from letters, followed by 67% who received information from face-to-face conversation and 56% from phone calls.

The feedback suggests that people do not understand all of the information they receive or do not receive information in a way that meets their needs. The difficulties people have understanding the information they receive, highlights the need for services to make sure they always ask people and their carers about their communication needs, record this information in their records so it can be shared with other professionals and act upon each individuals needs in a consistent way This would ensure that people always receive their information in a format that they can understand.

The research outlines the impact on people when they got information that they couldn’t understand, including the impact on other family members.

Most people had never been asked about their communication needs. Six people said that they struggle to use technology, or don’t have access to it at all, meaning that some ways of receiving health and social care information are completely inaccessible to them. They spoke of struggling to read texts and operate mobile phones, often having to ask someone else for assistance.

When information is not provided in a way that is understandable to a person with communication needs, it creates issues around privacy as people may have to ask a friend, family member and/or carer to access and understand the information on their behalf. This can limit independence. People told us that they would like clear and understandable information so that they do not have to ask other people to read their sensitive and private information. People are not aware of their communication rights and so don’t ask for their information to be in a clear understandable format or for communication support.

Many people said that staff were helpful, kind and accommodating with their accessibility needs, particularly highlighting the importance of staff taking the time to explain information.  Not all staff were supportive.

A lot of people felt that the way services are run is not supportive for individuals with communication needs. One area that people really felt needed to be improved was in providing support for families and carers of people with additional needs.

People prefer face-to-face conversations and need clearer communication from services.

The report contains 13 recommendations on making communications and information more accessible.