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 ensure people with disabilities are not excluded from the move to digital triage in hospitals.

National Health Service organisations must ensure equitable access to care and avoid policies that disadvantage individuals or widen inequalities. All NHS organisations are legally obliged to not discriminate against patients or staff.

NHS England is implementing the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag (RADF) to record and share patients’ disabilities and required adjustments, supporting personalised care. Guidance and training are available for staff.

A new information standard, published 19 December 2025, supports the national rollout of the RADF. By 30 September 2026, all publicly funded health and social care providers must be able to record, share, and update reasonable adjustment data in line with patients’ changing needs.

This work is underpinned by the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which, since 2016, has required NHS and publicly funded social care providers to meet the communication needs of people with disabilities, impairments, or sensory loss. A revised AIS, published on 30 June 2025, is being implemented with NHS England support through guidance, communications, and engagement.