Source: NHS England 25 March, 2024
What the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag is and why this should be implemented
The Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag is a national record which indicates that reasonable adjustments are required for an individual and optionally includes details of their significant impairments, key adjustments that should be considered, and underlying conditions.
NHS England has built the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag in the NHS Spine to enable health and care professionals to record, share and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated.
The Equality Act (2010) places a legal duty on all health and care services to make changes to their approach or provision to ensure that services are as accessible to people with disabilities as they are for everyone else. This duty aims to address the recognition that people with disabilities may appear to have equal access to care and services, but without specific adjustments being made, that access may not be equitable.
In September 2023, a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Information Standard was published (under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012) that details what all NHS and social care organisations in England are required to do about the flag.
This document is a high-level summary of actions required and how to achieve compliance. For more detailed information, please access the Information Standard (and implementation guidance) and the NHS Digital information page.
What organisations need to do
Compliance and implementation of the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Information Standard is by a two-phase approach and organisations should be working towards compliance with phase one by no later than April 2024.
Phase 1: identify, record, flag, share, meet, review reasonable adjustments at local level
Organisations using their own systems and processes to record reasonable adjustment information locally, ie on their own electronic systems and notes ready for sharing via the NHS Spine. Where digital entry is not readily available, organisations should be recording in paper records and subsequently coding digitally either on their own systems or via the National Care Records Service portal.
Compliance
From April 2024 organisations must have a process in place to identify, record and flag reasonable adjustments using currently available local systems.
Phase 2: flag and share reasonable adjustments using the Reasonable Adjustment Flag on the NHS Spine
Phase 2: What do I Need to Do?
Organisations must ensure readiness to share information digitally to and from the digital flag, either via a FIHR® API or via the National Care Records Service.
Organisations must ensure that they and their suppliers have engaged with NHS England by June 2024 to commence the onboarding process for integration and have established a process to upload and download reasonable adjustment information to and from the national Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag.
More information on these aspects can be found within the information standard documents and the NHS Digital website page.
Compliance
By 30 June 2024.
Summary: checklist of actions
- Develop a policy which is in line with the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Standard and amend any other impacted policies.
- Agree a comprehensive approach to identifying disabled people with reasonable adjustment requirements including the new patient process in line with the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Standard.
- Establish a clear process for recording individuals’ disability and reasonable adjustment information in line with the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Standard.
- Create and establish a Reasonable Adjustment Flag in local patient record systems, in line with the standard, to highlight and make individuals’ disability and reasonable adjustment information highly visible to staff.
- Establish a clear process for sharing individual’s disability and reasonable adjustment information in line with the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Standard
- Establish a clear process for reviewing and updating information on the individual’s records relating to disability and reasonable adjustment information in line with the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Standard
- Ensure organisational readiness for future digital integrations.
- Provide training and briefings to staff to explain the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Standard, detail processes to be followed and raise awareness of support which staff can provide themselves. National training for frontline staff via a short e-learning module will be rolled out in April 2024.
Resources
You can find examples of how organisations are achieving compliance and resources to support your organisation to do the same, including examples of each of the 6 step process on the NHS Futures platform (if you do not have currently have access, you can request this by clicking on the link and requesting an account).
The information standard and implementation guidance is available on NHS Digital’s website.
Further information about the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag is also available on NHS Digital’s website.
For the full source information click here.
