A communications plan was developed and implemented from November 2013 onwards. This was targeted at reaching individuals and groups identified as having an interest in the accessible information standard and / or who were anticipated to be affected by or expected to implement it. The target audience therefore consisted of: NHS bodies including clinical commissioning groups and foundation trusts; Adult social care bodies (local authorities); Organisations providing NHS or adult social care services; Relevant royal colleges such as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists; Relevant professional bodies such as the Association of Speech and Language Therapists; Voluntary and community sector organisations working with and / or led by people with disabilities which affect their communication and information needs; Professionals and individual service users who had previously expressed interest in this work; Local Healthwatch and other patient groups such as the National Association of Patient Participation. Information introducing the project and encouraging completion of an appropriate survey was included in a range of bulletins including: NHS News (published by NHS England and distributed to NHS and social care organisations); The Department of Health, Public Health England and NHS England Voluntary and Community Sector Strategic Partner Bulletin; NHS England’s clinical commissioning group bulletin; The newsletter of the Foundation Trust network; Newsletters produced and distributed by voluntary sector organisations including Action on Hearing Loss and the Royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB). The activity was also promoted online by a number of organisations who published information on websites, including: An invitation to participate in the engagement activity was sent directly to a wide range of individuals and organisations including:
Respondents also commented that they the survey too long, and that they found some questions difficult to understand. Feedback received on the engagement process Some voluntary sector organisations and individuals provided specific feedback on the engagement process itself. This included concerns about: The British Sign Language (BSL) video of the patient, service user and carer survey, specifically that: it was inaccessible for d/Deaf people with a learning disability, as “the original language was at a high division of each question into a separate video clip including the list of answer options would improve d/Deaf people’s ability to respond. The (written) patient, service user and carer survey being overly-complicated and / or difficult to follow; The survey questions, particularly that multiple issues or questions were raised by a single question, and that were too many answer options; The inability to select more than one disability or impairment as part of the diversity monitoring questions; The phrasing of the survey questions, specifically the view that they implied that “…interpreters provide a sufficient platform to help Deaf patients communicate.” The easy read survey questions were too long, that were too many answer options for some questions and about inconsistent use of images. This feedback has been on board, and we will endeavour to address these concerns where possible and as appropriate in future engagement exercises. Impact of engagement The feedback received as part of the engagement activity has specifically informed the development of the accessible information standard, plans for its implementation and assessment of the impact that the standard could or should have. Some examples of where views expressed have had a direct impact on the drafting of the standard are as follows: