Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) quality and (b) accessibility of online NHS health information.

We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experience for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Patients unable to use digital channels can continue to access services via telephone and through traditional face to face services.

Citizens can access a range of information on different health conditions on the National Health Service’s website, which is all clinically verified. Centrally built services, such as the NHS App and NHS website are designed to meet international accessibility standards. We are modernising the mobile patient experience within the NHS App, ensuring information is clearly structured and easy to find and understand.

NHS organisations and publicly funded social care providers in England are required to meet the Accessible Information Standard, in order to meet the communication needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including patients with sight or hearing loss.