Access Policy
Carparking is available at the rear of the Practice at Tavyside. We have two disabled bays and two child friendly parking spaces available. We ask that you only park for the duration of your visit with either the health centre, Tavyside Pharmacy or the Children’s Centre. There’s also parking spaces situated alongside the front of the Practice, these spaces can only be occupied for two hours.
Both our disabled and children friendly bays are located next to the entrance to the Practice.
Unfortunately, our Lifton Branch does not have a carpark on site, however does have available parking spaces nearby.
For patients who are hearing impaired, we can offer a British Sign Language interpreter for you at the time of booking your appointment. We may not be able to offer an interpreter for urgent on the day appointments due to availability.
We have a hearing loop on site that patients can use.
We can offer communication via email or text. Please inform the Practice of your preference.
Our Care Navigation team are on hand to help assist you if requested, and can navigate you to the most appropriate waiting room.
We can offer large print letters or emails if requested.
Guide dogs are welcome at Tavyside and Lifton Surgeries.
We are proud to be a safe surgery and welcome all patients, no matter their background, with open arms. If English is not your first language, and you would prefer to have an interpreter, please let us know and we will help accommodate this.
Wheelchairs are available at both surgeries on request.
Reasonable Adjustment Flag
The Reasonable Adjustment Flag is a national record that shows a person needs accommodations and may include details about their impairments and necessary adjustments.
Patients and carers
To find out more about the provision of reasonable adjustments, visit the Reasonable adjustments for people with a learning disability page on GOV.UK or contact the organisations that are providing your care.
Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach or provision to ensure that services are as accessible to people with disabilities as they are for everybody else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments.
The Reasonable Adjustment Flag was developed in the NHS Spine to enable health and care workers to record, share and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated.
Benefits
- The Flag is immediately visible (to reception staff, as permitted by local role-based access controls) when the patient is referred or presents for care, often when no other information is available.
- It will ensure that details of impairments and other key information (such as communication requirements) are shared consistently across the NHS – with patient consent.
- Supports carers to feel less stressed by informing them of adjustments to services.
- It can help to reduce stress both for the patient and those treating them.
Specialist teams will be able to set the Flag – driving up the number of patients recorded on registers, who are identified for and can benefit from adjustments. This will help screening services to adapt services to ensure patients receive screening.
It satisfies legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and NHS contracts and as defined in the NHS Long Term Plan
Who this service is for
This service is for health and social care workers in any care setting who are treating patients that require reasonable adjustments, ensuring their needs are considered and catered for.
This service is only for use in England, and only for the purpose of direct care.
What information is available
The Flag is designed to provide staff with information on their duties under the Equality Act 2010. It lists existing adjustments, defined by clinical codes – such as communication needs defined using the Accessible Information Standard clinical codes – as well as the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments for patients.
Who is included
The service holds records for all patients in England who have been flagged as needing reasonable adjustments. A record is created for a patient when a health or social care worker first records the patient’s reasonable adjustments.
What information is held for each patient
The Flag provides:
- basic context about a patient
- key adjustments and the details related to this
- further information to aid health and care workers
This legal duty is anticipatory which means a service should know about a person’s need for adjustments when they are referred or present for care. For this to happen, and for optimum care to be delivered, adjustments need to be recorded and shared across the NHS.
The Flag can also record if a patient meets the Equality Act definition of disability – the code is:
- “Impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day activity (Equality Act 2010)”
It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition that is the source of the .
The impairment type list shows the impairment types that can be recorded. The Harmonised Impairment Standard enables the consistent, high profile and routine recording of impairment (including the option of ‘prefer not to say’).
Impairment types
Vision – for example blindness or partial sight
Hearing – for example deafness or partial hearing
Mobility – for example walking short distances or climbing stairs
Dexterity – for example lifting and carrying objects, using a keyboard
Learning or understanding or concentrating
Memory
Mental health
Stamina or breathing or fatigue
Social or behavioural – for example associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) which includes Asperger’s, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Other (please specify)
Prefer not to say
Categories and types of adjustments
Examples of the categories of adjustments, and the types of adjustments within them, that can be recorded on the Flag, are:
Details of specific communication methods that are required for interacting with the patient:
- does lip read
- does use communication device
- does use hearing aid
- preferred method of communication: written
- uses alternative communication skill
- uses British Sign Language (BSL)
Details of specific communication requirements including communication professional and communication devices:
- British Sign Language interpreter needed
- Hands-on signing interpreter needed
- Makaton Sign Language interpreter needed
where the patient requires contacts from care organisations to be be provided through specific communication channels or mechanisms:
- requires audible alert
- requires contact by email
- requires contact by letter
- requires contact by short message service text message
- requires contact by telephone
- requires contact by text relay
- requires contact via carer
- requires tactile alert
- requires visual alert
Where the patient requires information in a specific format:
- requires information in contracted (Grade 2) Braille
- requires information in Easy read
- requires information in Makaton
- requires information in Moon alphabet
- requires information in uncontracted (Grade 1) Braille
- requires information verbally
- requires third party to read out written information
- requires written information in at least 20 point sans serif font
Additional communication support beyond that defined in the accessible information standard:
- difficulty analysing information
- difficulty processing information accurately
- difficulty processing information at normal speed
- expresses pain atypically
- has My Healthcare Passport
- needs assistance with communication
- requires appointment reminders
- requires carer to be present at encounters
- uses apps on mobile device to support communication
- uses switches for communication
- uses Tadoma method for communication
Including community language support for patients with impairments and carers who provide communication support for the patient and do not speak English:
- Abkhazian language interpreter needed
Over 200 language codes can be used to identify a patient’s primary language.
Including additional staff or carer support for the patient:
- care to be delivered in consultation with the patients carers
- has appointed person with personal welfare lasting power of attorney (Mental Capacity Act 2005)
- needs assistance with medication regimen adherence
- requires additional staff resource for their mental impairment
- requires additional staff resource for their physical impairment
- requires additional staff resource for their sensory impairment
- requires constant supervision
- requires enhanced discharge planning
- unsafe to be left alone
Including changes to standard clinical activity to meet individual care needs:
- dependence on seeing eye dog
- has anticipatory care plan
- has anxiety related to clinical settings
- needle phobia
- patient requires minimal waiting time between arrival and being seen
- preference for female healthcare professional
- preference for male healthcare professional
- requires distraction for any procedure
- requires extended appointment
- requires familiarisation for procedures
- requires familiarisation with environment of care
- requires first appointment
- requires home visits where possible
- requires Last Appointment
- requires priority appointment
- self care deficit for medication management
- uses dispensed monitored dosage system
Changes to the physical environment in which care is provided (including equipment):
- eyes sensitive to light
- noise intolerance
- photophobia
- requires low light environment
- requires low noise environment
- requires single room during inpatient care
- requires wheelchair access
Personalised adjustments to the individuals care that are not covered by other:
- requires reasonable adjustments for health and care access (Equality Act 2010)
If you need to request a reasonable adjustment, please contact the surgery to let us know which option you would like added to your records. Alternatively, you can discuss this with your clinician at your next appointment.