Work across SW London

Work to ensure that disabled people can access GP services

Healthwatch Sutton, together with the other Healthwatch organisations in South West London, are currently working with patients, carers and GP practices on a project about the Accessible Information Standard.

What is the Accessible Information Standard?

The Accessible Information Standard provides guidance to ensure that the communication needs of people with certain mental and physical disabilities are met. It aims to support people with disabilities that can make it difficult for them to understand or communicate information. This includes: 

• hearing loss
• sight loss
• neurodiverse conditions
• learning disability
• other neurological conditions

The Standard applies to the whole of the NHS. Our project focuses on improving accessible communication in GP practices across South West London.

Working with patients and carers

We are collaborating with voluntary sector colleagues across South West London to reach people with different disabilities. We are working together to design and share surveys and to host focus groups to hear about the experiences of patients and their carers. We are learning how well GP practices are meeting people’s communication needs and listening to people’s recommendations for how GP practices can further improve accessibility.

Working with GP practices

We are interested in working with anyone who engages with patients through their job at a GP practice. That includes clinicians, nurses, receptionists, social prescribers, patient navigators – and anyone else. Our goal is to make it easier and more efficient for GP practices to adhere to the Standard – we are not about naming or shaming practices for poor implementation. 

We are working with GP practices in the following ways:

• Requesting their participation in a survey to help us understand how the Accessible Information Standard is currently implemented in practices, and the barriers and facilitators to meeting people’s communication needs. (This survey is currently open).
• Creating a community of practice that can help create and share strategies that respond to people’s recommendations as well as to the findings from the GP practice survey. We hope to have our first meeting in June 2024. GP practices can sign up to receive updates.
• Asking that they help us understand what has changed for patients and carers because of our work at the conclusion of this project (estimated to be early 2025).