Get involved in RNIB’s My Info My Way campaign
Read our update on our campaign for accessible health and care information, and join our campaign workshops in November to learn new skills and get involved.
Blind and partially sighted people have a legal right to receive accessible information about their health and care. This means being able to receive information in alternative formats like large print, email, audio and braille – but too often this doesn’t happen, leaving people with sight loss facing serious risks to health and wellbeing.
In 2023, RNIB launched the My Info My Way campaign which aims to make this right a reality. Central to the campaign is that blind and partially sighted people are aware of their rights, and have the knowledge and tools to speak up for them. NHS and social care services also need to know about their responsibility to provide accessible information, and make sure they’re putting this into practice.
RNIB Campaigns workshops
In November 2024, RNIB Campaigns will be holding online workshops for campaigners. If you’re blind or partially sighted and want to learn what you have a right to receive, how to speak up for it, and how to campaign with local health and care services, then join a workshop to find out more. Our upcoming workshops include:
- Speaking up for your right to accessible health information: 4 November 6pm to 8pm, repeated on 5 November 10am to 12noon.
- Campaigning with local health services: 12 November 6pm to 8pm, repeated on 13 November 2pm to 4pm.
To get involved, email [email protected] and let us know which session you’d like to join. The sessions will be online video calls using Microsoft Teams, but you can also join using your landline or mobile phone.
How to request accessible health information
As part of the My Info My Way campaign, RNIB has created a guide on how to request accessible health and care information, and how to raise a complaint if you don’t receive it. We have versions of the guide available for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In our first workshop for campaigners, you can hear more about using the guide to speak up for your accessible health information.
Local campaigning in England
RNIB Regional Campaigns Officers have been contacting NHS services to find out what they’re doing to provide information in accessible formats, what problems can get in the way, and how RNIB can help.
In our second workshop on campaigning with local health services you’ll find out how you can get involved and take steps to help local health services improve.
RNIB continues to call for an updated NHS Accessible Information Standard
The NHS England Accessible Information Standard makes clear how NHS and adult social care services in England must provide accessible information to people with communication needs. However, an updated and improved Standard is vital, to address the ongoing obstacles to accessible information being provided.
RNIB and partner organisations are in regular contact with NHS England, supporting with the update of the Standard. Unfortunately, this update has been repeatedly delayed, and we do not know when we can expect it to be introduced.
Under the last Government, RNIB called on the then Health Secretary to do everything she could to get the updated Standard in shape and over the finish line, and lots of you contacted your MPs to ask for their support.
Now we have a new UK Government in place, RNIB has welcomed the new Minister for Care, Stephen Kinnock, and made clear that progress on accessible health and care information is vital.
UK Covid Inquiry and accessible information
Inaccessible health information has been a key issue raised by RNIB at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which is examining the impact of the pandemic, the UK’s response, and lessons which can be learned for the future.
RNIB is formally involved in the inquiry as part of a group of nine disability charities, and on 10 October 2024, RNIB’s CEO Matt Stringer spoke as a witness in the inquiry’s public hearings. He highlighted that people with sight loss were frequently denied accessible health information, including being sent inaccessible shielding letters, invitations to vaccination appointments, and COVID-19 testing.
