Improving the experience of the Accessible Information Standard

We are committed to improving the experience of local communitues of accessing information in the best way for them as set out in the Accessible Information Standard.

As one of two Integrated Care Boards across the country, we successfully gained support from NHS England to pilot the implementation of a nationally developed Accessible Information Standard self-assessment framework. The pilot findings will be used by the national team to finalise the framework before it is published and issued across the country.

We have carried out a range of initial work in relation to the Accessible Information Standard with established partnership work and research into the standard. This includes:

• Establishing a Hampshire and Isle of Wight wide, multi-partner Accessible Information Standard Group. This group has a number of aims including sharing learning on the requirements of the Accessible Information Standard, collaborating to address barriers to information access, establishing the roles and responsiblities across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in relation to information accessiblity, and the raising of parity and equity for our local communities. 
• The four Healthwatch across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, working in partnership, seeking the views of local people on their experience of being able to access accessible information and developing a number of recommendations. Read more in their findings report. 
• Adding the requirement for the development of an Accessible Information Standard plan into NHS provider contracts.

The pilot enabled us to build on this work and had three strands:

1. Self-assessment framework implementation – supporting a range of partners to complete the self-assessment framework and to share their feedback which will be used to develop improvement recommendations.
2. Evaluation framework – developing an evaluation framework to enable the system to assess progress with implementing the standard. The work from the self-assessment framework implementation will be used to develop metrics, measures and a baseline for the evaluation framework.
3. Discussion through the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Partnership about implementing the standard across all partners including local authorities.

All three strands of work were developed and delivered by the Accessible Information Standard Group, including Healthwatch linking with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Voluntary Sector Alliance.

We have used the findings from the pilot to develop a workplan for 2025/26 which will focus on four priority areas:

1. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Systems - exploring how we improve the way our multiple systems record, flag and enable sharing of patients' information and communications support requirement needs.​​​​​​​
2. Evaluation and monitoring - jointly developing mechanisms for evidencing patient experience of the Accessible Information Standard and staff awareness, which could include carrying out surveys.
3. Training - considering training needs across the system and implementing a shared programme to ensure awareness and understanding of information and communications support needs for staff in all roles.
4. Awareness raising - developing mechanisms across the system to ensure patients and carers are aware of their rights and how to access information and communications support that best meets their needs.