Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, where information received by NHS England raises concerns that an NHS trust may not be effectively implementing its statutory or national requirements relating to reasonable adjustments, what process NHS England should follow to assess those concerns; and in what circumstances issue-specific performance management or other intervention would be appropriate rather than referral to the trust or integrated care board as an individual complaint.

NHS trusts have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people are not placed at a disadvantage when accessing services, as also set out in the Equality Act Code of Practice, updated on 5 August 2026.

Nationally, the Accessible Information Standard expects health and social care services to identify, record, flag, share, meet, and review disabled people’s information and communication needs, and NHS England is rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which will allow staff to see and share the adjustments needed for that person to access services equally, and ensure support can be tailored appropriately and equitably.

Integrated care boards must ensure they are meeting their statutory duties to reduce health inequalities within their local area, overseen by NHS England which has powers of intervention if the integrated care board is failing or at risk of failing to meet its statutory duties. The NHS Oversight Framework ensures public accountability for performance and provides a foundation for how NHS England works with systems and providers to support improvement.