Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to review the implementation of the Accessible Information Standard, DCB1605, introduced in 2016, to ensure that the healthcare information and communication support needs of people with a disability, including visual impairments, are being met.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently reviewing the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), to ensure that communication needs are met in healthcare provision. The review will consider the effectiveness of the current AIS, how the standard is implemented and enforced in practice and identify recommendations for improvement. NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently in the consultation and engagement phase of the review and expect the updated AIS and supporting documents to be published later in 2022.