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Reasonable Adjustments
What is a reasonable adjustment?
A reasonable adjustment is a change that a service must make to support people with a disability.
This could be things like:
- making an appointment longer for someone who needs more time to understand information,
- making sure the appointment room is on the ground floor for someone who cannot use stairs,
- making sure there is a quiet space to wait if you find the noise stressful.
Adjustment means a change.
Reasonable means the change is
- helpful
- possible to do
- not too expensive or difficult for the organisation
If you ask for a reasonable adjustment it may not always be possible right away. In some cases, the service might need time to make the change happen.
For example, if you need a ramp to get into the building, it might not be built right away, but staff could get a movable ramp, or you could have appointments in a different building.
Reasonable adjustments are about what you need, not what you might want to happen. Some people need a quiet space to wait in, and other people might like to have a quiet space but if they didn’t have one, they would be ok.
There is a requirement to make sure information is accessible to people so they can make choices about their care.
Who can get reasonable adjustments?
The Equality Act (2010) is a law that the government put in place.
It says that health and care organisations and services must make reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability.
Even if you don’t see yourself as someone who has a disability the Equality Act might still say you have a disability and so should get reasonable adjustments.
The Equality Act says you have a disability if:
- you have a physical or mental impairment. Impairment means something that affects your body or mind and makes it harder to do normal daily activities (the things people do day-to-day)
- the impairment makes it substantially harder for you to do different activities each day. Substantially means it makes it much harder. For example, it might take you much longer to get dressed or prepare a meal than it would for most people.
- You have had these different physical or mental impairments for 12 months (one year) or longer. It could also be if you think these impairments will last for 12 months or longer.
If you have a difference that meets the three points above the Equality Act says you have a disability.
It makes no difference if you do not yet have a diagnosis or are still waiting for one.
If you are not sure whether you have a disability under the Equality Act or if you want to know more about the Equality Act, you can contact Citizens Advice using the contact details at the end of this document.
What is the reasonable adjustment digital flag?
The reasonable adjustment digital flag shows up when staff search for someone's health record on a computer.
The flag will tell staff that the person needs a reasonable adjustment and what the reasonable adjustment is.
You will need to agree for your reasonable adjustments to be added and shared on the reasonable adjustment digital flag. Go to the section on sharing reasonable adjustments to learn more about this.
Staff will be able to see what adjustments are recorded for you whenever they look at your records.
In the future, the reasonable adjustment digital flag will be used across all health and social care services that are paid for by the NHS or local councils.
For example, it could be used by:
- NHS doctors (GPs)
- NHS hospital staff
- NHS dentists
- NHS opticians
- NHS ambulance staff
- Social workers
What you need to do
The flag is available now in some services. It's important that if you know you need a reasonable adjustment, you tell staff so they can put a reasonable adjustment digital flag on your record.
You can ask to see or be told what is recorded on your reasonable adjustment digital flag by asking the staff who are supporting you with your health or social care. For example, you could ask staff at your doctors practice or whichever service you see most often.
Request Reasonable Adjustments
How the reasonable adjustment digital flag works
Different services have different ways that they store your information on their computer systems. The reasonable adjustment digital flag will work on all computer systems .
When staff add a reasonable adjustment to the digital flag they have lots of different options on a list to say what reasonable adjustment you need.
We know that lots of people need adjustments that might not be on this list. If this happens staff can still add your reasonable adjustment to the reasonable adjustment digital flag and add a note to explain what your specific needs are.
Sharing your reasonable adjustments on the reasonable adjustment digital flag
When you tell staff about a reasonable adjustment you need, it will be added to your reasonable adjustment digital flag. This means any health and care staff who look at your record will see your reasonable adjustments.
The information is shared with other health and care organisations so they can also make the reasonable adjustments you need. For example, if you tell your doctor (GP) about something you need, your dentist will be able to see this on your record, so you don’t have to explain it every time.
Only staff involved in your care will see this information.
If you do not want your reasonable adjustments to be shared in this way, you will need to tell staff. Reasonable adjustments will still be made for you, but you will need to explain them at each appointment.
You can also use a health and care passport, hospital passport or communications passport to tell staff about your reasonable adjustments. A note can be made on your reasonable adjustment digital flag to tell staff you have a health and care passport. If you chose not to have a reasonable adjustment digital flag you will need to tell staff, you have a health and care passport.
The Mental Capacity Act
The Mental Capacity Act is a law that says what should happen if someone is not able to make a choice themselves.
If someone can’t make a choice about their care, then someone else can be chosen to make a choice for them.
What happens if your reasonable adjustments are not being made?
The law that means organisations must make reasonable adjustments (the Equality Act) is still the same. The reasonable adjustment digital flag should make it easier for staff to make these reasonable adjustments.
If a reasonable adjustment is not made you can talk to the service who may be able to change this or get support from the organisations below.