The Accessible Information Standard (AIS)

How to get information you can understand from health and social services.

Do you find it hard to understand your doctor or social worker ?

A woman reading with a time symbol in a speech bubble next to her

Do they speak too fast?

Or give you letters that are hard to read?

A nurse and another healthcare person with a tick symbol between them

There is a rule for health and social care services.

a man with his thumbs up and two speech bubbles around him

The rule says they have to communicate with you in a way you can understand.

A woman reading the Accessible Information Standard book with a tick on the cover

The rule is called the Accessible Information Standard .

There are lots of health services who may communicate with you: like the doctor, hospital or dentist.

A social worker and support worker helping a woman at a desk

There are lots of social care services who may communicate with you, like social workers and support workers.

They may communicate with you in a letter.

They may communicate with you on the phone.

They may communicate with you by talking to you at your appointment.

A man with his hand raised and a tick symbol in front of him

The Accessible Information Standard says health and social care services have to do their best to communicate with you in a way you can understand.

A woman holding up a list with her thumbs up and a tick symbol next to her

The Accessible Information Standard says health and social care services have to:

1. Ask you what support you need from them.

2. Write down what support you need in a note on your records.

3. Make sure the right people know you need support.

4. Make sure that you get the support you asked for.

5. If they send you to see another service, they can tell them what support you need.

A smiling woman reading a book with a tick symbol on the front cover

There is more information about how this all works further down on this page.

Download and use this easy read letter to help you ask for support with communication from health and social care services.

1. They should ask you what support you need.

A doctor talking to another woman at a desk

They may ask you at your annual health check or at your next appointment.

A woman in a wheel chair with her hand raised thinking about something

Think about what would help you to communicate better with your health and social care workers.

A man pointing at the camera with question mark symbols behind him

You can choose what support you ask for, there are some ideas to help you below.

A man in a wheelchair with his hand raised to ask a question

You could ask them to:

A speech bubble with lots of words inside it

Make sure they use easy words and slow down.

A doctor showing a patient an easy read guide

Explain everything in a way you can understand.

A clock showing 20 minutes and a plus sign

Give you a longer appointment.

A woman with her thumbs up next to an open diary

Book your appointment when your supporter can come.

An information leaflet and a large print book

Give you letters and leaflets in easy read or large print.

2. They must write down what support you need, in a note on your records.

A woman on the phone next to a computer with an easy read message on the screen

Then the next time they need to communicate with you, they should look at the note first.

A doctor at a computer with an easy read message on the screen

3. They must make sure the computer can show the right people what support you need.

A man in a wheelchair pointing to himself next to a speech bubble with a phone, a clock and another speech bubble in it.

If you have told them that you need support,

the computer must be able to tell them what you need, every time they communicate with you.

4. The service must make sure you get the support you need.

A man in a wheelchair pointing to himself with a speech bubble

If you have told a service you need support to communicate,

like easy read information or extra time for your appointment.

A man with his thumbs up holding a clipboard with a tick on it

The service needs to make sure you get the support you need, every time.

A doctor with a speech bubble with a hospital behind him

5. They must ask you if they can tell other services what support you need.

If they need to send you to another service, like the hospital, they can tell the service what support you need.

You can choose if it is OK for them to share your information.

If you say yes, they can tell other services what support you need.

If you say no, they cannot tell other services about what support you need.

a clock and easy read leaflets with a cross through them both

If you say no, you may not get all the support you need from the other services.

A woman with her hand raised to ask a question

What should you do next?

Your health workers and social care workers should ask you what support you need.

Or you can ask to talk to them about how they communicate with you.

You can download and show your health or social care worker this easy read page if you need to help them understand it.

Mencap has an easy read letter you can use to help them understand how to talk to you.