Accessible Information Standard & Reasonable Adjustments

The Accessible Information Standard (AIS) is a mandatory ‘information standard’ for all organisations that provide NHS or adult social care.

Reasonable adjustments are a legal requirement to make sure health services are accessible to all disabled people.

The AIS aims to ensure that people who have a disability or sensory loss receive information that they can access and understand, for example in large print, braille or via email, and that they receive professional communication support if they need it, for example from a British Sign Language interpreter.

Patients may have a reasonable adjustments flag on their electronic health record, which will have been added with their consent.

Reasonable adjustments flags:

• indicate what support patients need to help them use health services.
• might also record details of the patient's physical or sensory disability 

Please let the hospital department know if you have a disability, impairment or sensory loss, and the kind of information and communication support that you need. They will record this on your health records and will it help us prepare for the next time you use our services.

More information on the Accessible Information Standard is available in these formats: 

• Easy read leaflet 
• British Sign Language (BSL) video 
• Audio Description 

We are committed to actively promoting equality of opportunity for all disabled people. We will work to ensure institutional systems do not discriminate, and that the day to day experience of disabled people entering the Trust as patients, staff, visitors or volunteers is positive.

We also recognise that disability is extremely diverse and that no one disabled person’s experience is exactly the same as another. We seek to ensure that we:

• represent the full spectrum of disability issues in our actions to promote disability equality
• remove the social and physical barriers faced by disabled people.

All information on these pages can be made available in large print or Braille on request - please telephone 0118 322 8338 or email: PALS@royalberkshire.nhs.uk