Disability
The Disability Equality Duty which came into force in December 2006 requires the NHS across Scotland to take a more positive and proactive approach to disability. It is our aim to use this website to share and exchange information with relevant partners from the Health Service and those who are working with the Health Service in Scotland.
With 1 in 5 of the population being disabled, access to the health service is an important issue both for disabled people and the health service itself. Disabled people are more likely to live in circumstances which put them at greater risk of poor health: poverty, unemployment, crime, poor housing, lack of control and poor access to goods and services are all known predictors of poor health.
Therefore when we talk about access to health services as being a major issue for disabled people we are not just talking about getting into buildings or about compliance with legislation. The Disability Equality Duty which came into force in December 2006 requires the NHS across Scotland to take a more positive and proactive approach to disability.
Resources
Fair for All - Disability - Achieving Fair Access Guidance
This guidance is about improving access and removing the barriers disabled people can experience when they use NHS services. It brings together good advice from a wide range of sources and provides details of publications and useful organisations for staff looking for more detailed information.
Alternatively you can view individual sections of the guidance at Guidance sections.
Tip Cards
Fair for All – Disability and the Royal College of General Practitioners (Scotland) worked in partnership for some time to help GP Practices improve access for disabled people. In 2007, they organised an awareness raising event for GPs and Practice Managers. Most recently, they worked on the production of tip cards.
The information in the tip cards have been adapted from the Fair for All – Disability guidance, ‘Achieving Fair Access’, to help all staff within NHS Scotland improve access to NHS services for disabled people.
The tip cards are not meant to be a comprehensive resource on all disabilities, but they will provide staff with some quick pointers to meeting the individual needs of people with specific impairments.
Fair for All - Disability - Policy Map
This is a policy map designed by Fair for All - Disability. It provides practitioners with information about disabled people accessing the NHS and relevant legislation that impacts upon disabled people’s access, as well as presenting some reports that promote good practice ideas and examples of change within the NHS with the aim of benefiting disabled people. The questionnaire aims to ensure that the Policy Map is informative and accurate.
See what the Equality and Human Rights Commission (external link) is doing to tackle disability discrimination and promote disability equality.
Reviewed 1 August 2010