Accessible information standard report
Download (PDF 642.95 KB)Summary of report content
This report presents the results of Healthwatch Lincolnshire’s survey that aimed to find out how well health and care services in the county are delivering the accessible information standard. Between February and April 2022 Healthwatch Lincolnshire heard from 58 people. The survey found that 52% felt they could understand any information given to them by services about healthcare. However, 16% said they struggled to understand most or any of the information given to them.
The results on getting support with understanding information, contacting services or communicating with staff are more negative. 31% said they felt they rarely got the support they needed, while 22% didn’t know they could get support so never asked. 37% of respondents said they felt uncomfortable asking for information in a way they could understand, while 44% said they felt comfortable doing so. The attitude of staff and previous experiences of doing so were the most commonly stated barriers to asking for understandable information.
The report recommends that health and care services should be made more accountable for fully delivering the standard, that every health and care service should have an accessibility champion, putting better IT systems be put in place so patients can update services with their communication needs, involving people with communication needs in service design, and mandatory training on accessible information for all health and care staff.