Consultations & Reports

Over nine million people in England, approximately one in six, are living with some form of hearing loss and over 41,000 of these are children and young people under the age of 19.

This guide has been produced in partnership with NHS England, the Department for Education (DfE) and hearing loss charities in response to the ambition set out in the Action Plan on Hearing Loss. This aims to ensure that young people with hearing loss are actively supported to participate fully in society, and are not limited in their potential to succeed in education and employment. In particular, it focuses on the transition to adulthood and what local authorities, education providers and commissioners can do to support and ensure that young people with hearing loss make a smooth and effective transition to adulthood.

Most of us take our hearing for granted and it is central to our health, well-being, communication, independence and quality of life. Over nine million people in England, approximately one in six, are living with some form of hearing loss; around 4.4 million of working age.

This guide has been produced in partnership with NHS England, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and hearing loss charities in response to the ambition set out in the Action Plan on Hearing Loss to improve employment outcomes for young people and adults with hearing loss. It focuses on what employers can do to ensure people with hearing loss can work well and contribute their best in the workplace and provides useful hints on attracting, recruiting and retaining staff with hearing loss.

Hearing is essential for healthy ageing, enabling us to communicate with friends and family, participate in society and retain our independence, health and wellbeing, quality of life, and remain in employment if we wish. Yet the major cause of hearing loss is age-related and as the ageing population grows, the impact of hearing loss for the individual and society grows.

This NHS England guide is specifically aimed at commissioners and medical and social care providers working with older people with hearing loss to support them in maintaining health, wellbeing and independence.

Accessible Information Standards – Post-Implementation Review – Report

From 1st August 2016 onwards, all organisations that provide NHS care and / or publicly-funded adult social care must follow the Accessible Information Standard in full.

During January-March 2017 NHS England led a post-implementation review of the Standard, with the aim of assessing its impact and ensuring that it is, and continues to be, ‘fit for purpose’. This report summarises the actions and findings of the review.

Inaccessible health services are a significant issue as they exacerbate and create new health problems for sensory impaired people and ultimately cost the NHS more money. This important report brings together the direct experiences of sensory impaired people highlighting key issues and making recommendations on how to improve access. Problems include inflexible booking systems, poor recording and sharing of information and people not receiving information and communication in their preferred format.

Last year saw the introduction of the Accessible Information Standard, making it a legal requirement for all NHS care or adult social care organisations to make sure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are provided with information that they can easily read or understand, and with support so they can communicate effectively. This report goes a long way to address the requirement of this legislation.

We would be happy to provide support and advice to any organisation seeking to improve access in line with this report. Our Sensory Access Charter Mark has also been created to support access improvements and includes the Accessible Information Standard.

Society is in the midst of a longevity revolution. The prevalence of sight loss increases with age: currently there are almost 2 million people aged 65 and over living with sight loss in the UK. This number is rising because of the ageing population yet the number receiving support is falling. The number of blind and partially sighted people receiving social care fell by 35% between 2008 and 2013.

As we get older many of us will start to develop problems with our hearing and vision. Sense has estimated that at least one in every 20 patients aged over 75 will have a significant hearing and sight loss.

Generally speaking, Deaf people are more likely to be overweight, twice as likely to have high blood pressure, and four times as likely to be on the verge of diabetes. This report highlights the issues and makes recommendations to improve accessible information, communication and GP access.

Sight loss is an increasing health concern in the UK. With an ageing population, the number of people with eye conditions is projected to rapidly increase over the coming years. The Royal College of General Practitioners has recognised the importance of addressing this issue, selecting eye health – with a particular focus on ageing and sight loss – as one of our key clinical priorities until March 2016.

Accessible Information Standard directs and defines a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers and parents, where those needs relate to a disability, impairment or sensory loss. This document is the Implementation Plan for Accessible Information.

This guide is intended to support senior managers and policy makers involved in implementing the Care Act to enable them to understand the key aspects of the Act that have a bearing on care and support for deafblind people and people with complex needs. It will also be useful to anyone working in deafblind care and support to understand how the Care Act will impact on their work.

Falls are the most common cause of hospitalisation for people aged over 65. This report aims to outline and promote the pivotal role that improving vision has in preventing falls. By producing a clear picture of vision testing within falls services, highlighting any variations in care and suggesting solutions to policy makers and the optometric profession, we aim to support falls professionals in testing patients’ vision and to demonstrate the role optometrists can play in this.