Meeting the standard? A review of the Accessible Information Standard in GP Practice

Healthwatch Manchester reviewed how well GP practices across Manchester comply with the NHS Accessible Information Standard (AIS). The AIS exists to ensure that patients with disabilities, impairments, or sensory loss receive information in accessible formats and appropriate communication support, and it became a statutory requirement across health and social care from June 2025.

Between July 2025 and March 2026, Healthwatch Manchester visited 84 GP practices across North, Central, and South Manchester, with only three practices declining to participate. During each visit, staff asked six structured questions assessing knowledge of the AIS and the availability of support for visually impaired, learning disabled, and deaf or hard‑of‑hearing patients, as well as the provision of quiet spaces and signposting to advocacy services.

The review found that understanding of the Accessible Information Standard was relatively high at the outset, but this did not consistently translate into full compliance. Before Healthwatch Manchester’s intervention, 80% of GP practices demonstrated awareness of the AIS, rising to 94% after support and follow‑up. Average scores increased from 11 to 13 marks out of 22, and the proportion of practices achieving 11 marks or more rose from 57% to 75%.

Despite these improvements, full compliance remained limited. Only 6% of GP practices initially met the pass mark for compliance, although this increased threefold to 18% following Healthwatch Manchester’s intervention. Awareness of advocacy services was particularly low at the start of the review, with only 20% of practices able to signpost patients appropriately, though this increased to 44% after support was provided.

The report highlights significant variation between practices and Primary Care Networks, with Better Health PCN achieving the highest average scores and Hulme and City Centre South PCN scoring the lowest overall. Training delivered in 2022 by lived‑experience‑led organisations was associated with higher compliance, as around 90% of practices that had received such training scored above the benchmark.

The report concludes that targeted, supportive intervention can significantly improve compliance with the Accessible Information Standard, but that achieving the minimum pass mark should not be viewed as the end point. It emphasises that meaningful compliance is best achieved through collaboration, ongoing support, and training delivered by organisations with lived experience of disability and sensory impairment. The report recommends continuous improvement, clearer promotion of advocacy services, and the expansion of lived‑experience‑led training across the wider health and care system.