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 that communications from NHS trusts to deaf and deafblind patients are accessible.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population, which includes responsibility for ensuring that there is adequate provision of British Sign Language interpreters to support deaf patients in the community.

Nationally, all National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss. This includes support for deaf and deafblind patients.

NHS England published a revised AIS on 30 June 2025. NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication, and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the NHS are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using services.