Disability Access

The Practice recognises the different needs of patients with disabilities and our aim is to meet these needs flexibly and with sensitivity.

The accessible information Standard aims to ensure that patients (or their carers) who have a disability or sensory loss can receive, access and understand information, for example in large print, braille or via email, and professional communication support if they need it, for example from a British Sign Language interpreter. This is a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to deliver equality of access to healthcare services for disabled people.

This applies to patients and their carers who have information and / or communication needs relating to a disability, impairment or sensory loss.  It also applies to parents and carers of patients who have such information and / or communication needs, where appropriate. Leaflet for accessible information 

Individuals most likely to be affected by the Standard include people who are blind or deaf, who have some hearing and / or visual loss, people who are deaf-blind and people with a learning disability. However, this list is not exhaustive.

Please see Accessible Information Easy Read Leaflet

People with sensory loss are currently asked to describe their communication needs, and this information 'flagged' on their computer records to enable staff to understand the needs of the patient when they attend the practice.  

Should you have any communication requirements or know of a patient who needs support please let the Practice know. We will help provide support whether that is by providing information in large print or putting a patient in touch with British Sign Language (BSL), an interpreter, email or braille. You can tell us by telephoning the surgery, contacting us using our online consultation tool or filling out the below form and returning it to the surgery.

What support can the practice offer you?

• Support for people who are blind who have visual loss

A person who is blind or has some visual loss may need information which is usually written down or provided in standard print in an alternative format such as: audio, on CD or voice recording, email or large print. Please speak to a member of the team for assistance.

• Support for people who are Deaf / have some hearing loss

A person who is d/Deaf or has some hearing loss may require support from a communication professional, including a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter/ Lip Speaker (arranged via the Wales Interpretation and Translation Service), or speech-to-text reporter (STTR). These options can be arranged.

Our consultation rooms are optimised to allow our clinicians to face the patient directly in case of lipreading.

If you are experiencing hearing difficulties when being called in to see the doctor or nurse, please do let us know in order for us to set up an alert on your medical records and personally collect you from the waiting room. Alternatively, we do have the facility of a portable hearing loop induction system. If you would like to use this, please ask at reception for assistance.

• Support for people with a physical disability

We make every effort to make the surgery accessible for disabled patients. There is access through the main door and we have a wheelchair available for use in surgery. The entry doors into our practice provide disabled access buttons as an easy entry solution. All of our consultant rooms are conveniently located on the ground floor of the premises, as well as a toilet with facilities for the disabled. 

Our practice car park has 3 disabled parking bays for use, with convenient nearby access to a dropped curb for access to the building. 

• Support for people who are deafblind

Many deafblind people will use a combination of different mechanisms to support communication. A deafblind person may require support from a communication professional: 

• British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, who may need to be particularly skilled to work with deafblind people who need BSL adapting in the following ways: - BSL interpreter - hands-on signing / BSL interpreter - visual frame signing 
• Deafblind manual interpreter 
• Speech-to-text-reporter (STTR)

A deafblind person may receive individual support from an identified professional to support them in communicating, such as a Deafblind communicator-guide or Deafblind intervenor. If so, it would be expected that this person would accompany the deafblind person.

• Support for people with a learning disability

A person who has a learning disability may need information which is usually provided in standard English provided in an alternative format such as ‘easy read’ or explained using Makaton.

A person with a learning disability:

• may require support from a communication professional at their appointment, for example an advocate.
• may also need support to communicate using a communication tool or aid. They may also have a ‘communication passport’.
• may also use non-verbal communication including gestures, pointing or eyepointing. 

Accessibility statement - The Practice Of Health Website

This accessibility statement applies to this website. This website is built on the default template provided by DHCW. The practice can edit the website content. This may inadvertently introduce non-accessible content. We will always respond to and resolve any accessibility issues promptly and courteously.

This website is run by The Practice Of Health. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
• submit a form using just a keyboard

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

Leaflet for accessible information

Guidance and Further Information

A number of Charities including Action on Hearing Loss, CHANGE, Sense and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) will also be able to provide further support.