Accessible Information Standard

Also called AIS, SCCI1605, DCB1605

The legal duty on every NHS and adult social care service in England to ask how you communicate, record it, and act on it.

What it is

The Accessible Information Standard is a legal requirement, made under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, that applies to every organisation providing NHS care or publicly funded adult social care in England. It says that if you have a disability, impairment or sensory loss that affects how you communicate or how you read information, the service must find that out, write it down, flag it, share it with other services when it is appropriate, and then act on it.

It is England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own accessibility duties for health bodies, but not this Standard under this name.

Who it can help

Anyone whose disability, impairment or sensory loss affects communication: a Deaf BSL user, a person with a learning disability who needs easy read, a blind person who needs large print or braille, a person who uses AAC and needs the receptionist to wait, a person with aphasia who needs a supporter at the appointment.

It is not for language barriers. If your need is for a Polish or Urdu interpreter, that comes under different guidance. And it does not cover private care you pay for yourself.

How it works

The Standard has five steps and services are judged on all five. Identify: ask about communication needs at first contact. Record: put them in the record in a set, consistent way, not in a free-text note nobody reads. Flag: make the record show the need prominently, so it is visible before the appointment, not discovered during it. Share: pass the need on when referring, with consent. Meet: actually provide the format or support. That could be a letter in large print, a BSL interpreter booked for the appointment, a longer slot, or a phone call replaced by an email or text.

A service cannot charge you for meeting the Standard, and it cannot make you bring a family member instead. The obligation is theirs.

Getting started

This week: ring or email your GP practice and ask them to record your communication needs under the Accessible Information Standard. Use that phrase. Say exactly what you need in one sentence, for example "I use a communication device and need an extra ten minutes and staff who will wait for me to finish", or "I need my appointment letters by email in 18-point text". Ask them to confirm it has been added as a flag, not a note.

Do the same with your hospital, dentist, pharmacy and care provider. Each one holds its own record, so telling one does not tell the others. If you carry a communication passport or a hospital passport, the needs section of that is exactly what they should be recording.

If a service refuses, ask them in writing why they are not applying the Standard. Most refusals evaporate when the question is put that way.

Where to get help

NHS England publishes the Standard and its implementation guidance. RNID and Sense both campaign on it and can advise if a service will not comply. If it is a social care provider, the Care Quality Commission can be told when it inspects.

If asking politely and then in writing has not worked, see complaints and communication needs and reasonable adjustments, which is the broader Equality Act duty that sits underneath the Standard.