Blind people at risk due to ‘inaccessible’ health information from NHS, charity warns

Blind people are being put “at risk” when the NHS provides them with “inaccessible” information about their health, a charity has warned.

People with sight loss have missed appointments, cancer screenings or been unable to use home test kits because of a lack of clear instructions in an accessible format, according to the sight loss charity RNIB.

It warned that denying people access to their information can also “cause embarrassment and loss of dignity”.

Linda Hansen, from Bradford, who is severely sight-impaired, said that she needed to get her daughter to read her the results of a medical exam which was sent to her in print format.

Ms Hansen, 62, said: “I can get my bank statement or a gas bill in accessible formats, but yet I still receive health information that I can’t read. What could be more personal than your health status?”

A new RNIB campaign – My Info My Way – has been launched calling for all blind and partially sighted people to be given accessible information.

The charity said that a failure to provide information in an accessible format is putting blind and partially sighted people “at risk”.

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Source: The Independent, 16 May 2023