NHS England has very recently opened a period of consultation on ‘making health and social care information accessible’. Please read the email below and follow the links to take part in the consultation.

Please forward the email to anyone else you feel will have an interest in this particularly self advocacy and carer groups, people who work in health and social care organisations, especially people who work in patient records, information governance, patient experience, equality and diversity, and communications.

Thank you for your interest in the ‘making health and social care information accessible’ project.

I am pleased to be able to advise that we have today (13th August) launched the consultation on the draft accessible information standard.

The consultation document and survey are now available from our website: http://www.england.nhs.uk/accessibleinfo in a range of accessible formats.

We have used the experiences and opinions people shared as part of the engagement phase (November 2013 - February 2014) to write the draft standard. A report of the engagement activity was published in July, and is available online http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1-hlth-soc-care-acc... and on request.

As part of the consultation we are asking people with an interest in accessible information, and those who will be required to implement the standard, to comment on the draft standard. This includes patients, service users and carers, health and care professionals and organisations, voluntary organisations, patient groups and communication professionals.

Please read the consultation document: http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/access-info-std-con... tell us your views using our online survey: http://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/cab3e456, or visit our website: http://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/patients/accessibleinfo-2/ to access information about the draft standard and the questions in an alternative format.

If you would like a copy of the consultation document and / or survey sending to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The consultation will close on 9th November, so please ensure you have your say before then.

Please share this information with anyone else who you think may be interested.