Reasonable Adjustment

You can ask us to consider a reasonable adjustment if you have a physical or mental impairment that affects your ability to access out services or communicate with us.

You do not need to provide detailed medical information when telling us what you need. We may ask you some questions so that we can understand the difficulty you experience and what adjustment would help.

Reasonable adjustments will depend on your individual needs.

Examples may include:

• information in Easy Read, large print or another accessible format;
• a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter or other communication support;
• additional time for an appointment;
• an appointment at a particular time of day where this is needed because of your disability;
• a quieter place to wait where reasonably practicable;
• allowing a carer, advocate or support person to be present where appropriate;
• support with physical access to the practice;
• an agreed method of communication where other methods are difficult or inaccessible.

There may be other adjustments that would help you. Please tell us what difficulty you experience and what would make accessing our services easier for you.

You can tell any member of our team that you require a reasonable adjustment.

You can tell us in person, by telephone, in writing, electronically, through a carer or advocate, or by another accessible method.

We may ask you to complete our Communication and Information Needs Form so that we can understand and record your needs correctly.

We will review the information you give us and record your reasonable adjustment needs on your medical record where appropriate.

An alert may be added to your record so that members of our team can see that you have a reasonable adjustment and understand what they need to do to support you.

We will then aim to make the agreed adjustment whenever it is relevant to your care or communication with the practice.

The Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag is a way of recording that a person requires reasonable adjustments when accessing health and care services.

It can help health and care professionals understand the adjustments you need so that these can be considered when you receive care.

We will explain to you if relevant information about your reasonable adjustment needs may be shared with other health or social care providers.

You may prefer us to communicate with you in a particular way, and we will try to respect your preferences where practicable.

A reasonable adjustment is different. It is a change that is needed to help prevent you being placed at a substantial disadvantage because of a disability or impairment.

For example, preferring telephone calls rather than text messages may be a communication preference. Being unable to access text messages because of a disability may mean that telephone communication is required as a reasonable adjustment.

We may ask you about this so that we record your needs correctly.

If you give your consent, relevant information may be shared with appropriate health and care professionals to help them understand and meet your needs.

If you do not consent to your information being shared, we will record your decision. We can still record and act on your reasonable adjustment needs within the practice where appropriate

Please tell us if your reasonable adjustment or communication needs change.

We can review your record with you and update the information so that it continues to reflect the support you need.

We will consider your individual circumstances and do what we reasonably can to help you access our services.

There may occasionally be circumstances where a particular adjustment cannot safely or reasonably be provided. If this happens, we will consider your needs and, wherever possible, discuss a suitable alternative with you.

Please contact the practice and let a member of our team know that you need help.

A carer, advocate or other appropriate person can also support you in telling us about your needs.

If you need information from us in a different or accessible format, please let us know.

Please complete and return the Communication and Information Needs form to enable us to update your preferences: Click here for form