Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medical appointments were missed by (a) deaf and (b) hearing impaired people due to a lack of information support (i) at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, (ii) in the North West and (c) in England over the last three years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not hold data on medical appointments missed in the format requested. Our Elective Reform Plan sets out the focussed action we are taking to reduce missed appointments, as part of delivering the Government’s commitment to return to the constitutional standard of 92% of patients having their first treatment within 18-weeks of referral. This includes enhancing communication between hospitals and patients, using the results of artificial intelligence to predict missed appointments, and targeting support to vulnerable patient groups, saving up to one million missed appointments.

The Elective Reform Plan and the 10-Year Health Plan commit to modernising care equitably and inclusively, including ensuring consistency in the availability of information, so that patients, including those that are deaf or have hearing impairments, are supported to attend appointments and have the best possible experience of care.

As part of this, NHS England published a refreshed Accessible Information Standard (AIS) in July 2025. This sets out a specific, consistent approach to meeting the information and communication support needs of service users with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, and requires that relevant staff are adequately trained. NHS England is supporting implementation of AIS, so that staff and organisations are aware of the importance of meeting the needs of disabled people using services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a timeline for when the NHS app will be made British Sign Language accessible.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has set out a commitment to make the NHS App British Sign Language (BSL) accessible in the 10-Year Health Plan, which covers the period to 2035.

Currently, there is no timeline for when the NHS App will be made BSL accessible. The NHS App roadmap is published and regularly updated, and is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/roadmap

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many BSL-interpreters were provided at the outset for patients seeking healthcare treatment in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire and (c) England over the last 12 months.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The information requested is not held centrally. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local population, which includes responsibility for ensuring that there is adequate provision of British Sign Language interpreters to support deaf patients in the community.

On 30 June 2025, a revised Accessible Information Standard (AIS) was published. NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication, and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on AIS. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the National Health Service are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using these services.

The AIS implementation guidance outlines support for people with hearing loss, and is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/#:~:text=Common%20types%20of%20communication%20support%20and%20alternative%20formats

NHS England is rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a patient and their adjustment needs, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the RNID report entitled Still Ignored: the fight for accessible healthcare; what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that the communication barriers and health inequalities for deaf and hearing-impaired people are reduced.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Under the 2010 Equality Act, health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. This includes responsibility for ensuring that there is adequate provision of British Sign Language interpreters to support deaf patients.

NHS England published a revised Accessible Information Standard (AIS) on 30 June 2025 and is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS. The intention is to ensure that staff and organisations in the National Health Service are aware of the AIS and the importance of meeting the information and communication needs of disabled people using services.

In July 2016, NHS England published the report Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A Framework for Clinical Commissioning Groups. This framework supports the newly established integrated care boards in England to make informed decisions on maximising value for local populations and providing consistent, high quality, integrated care. It also addresses inequalities in access and outcomes between hearing services.

NHS England is also rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a patient and their adjustment needs, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately. Guidance and free training on the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag are available for health and social care staff.