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Achieving fair access: positive action, real change - good practice guidance
Good practice guidance has been developed by the Fair For All—Disability team to support all staff within NHS Scotland to understand and meet their responsibilities under Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 (access to goods, services, facilities and premises).
This guidance is about improving access and removing the barriers which disabled people experience when they use NHS services. The guidance is aimed at all NHS staff and policy makers within the Scottish Executive. It offers both strategic and practical guidance to tackling the barriers disabled people face in accessing health services.
Dr Kevin Woods, Chief Executive NHSScotland issued a letter to Chief Executives of NHS Boards about his commitment towards the guidance and to enlist boards’ support in improving the quality of services for disabled people.
To view the guidance and the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter, please go to: www.fairforalldisability.org.uk
For further details please contact: Alastair Pringle
Disability Equality Duty
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 has been amended by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 to place a duty on all public sector authorities to positively promote disability equality. The duty applies in England, Scotland and Wales.
The Disability Rights Commission has produced a wide range of information and guidance for public authorities and disabled people on the Disability Equality Duty. The information and guidance looks at Explaining the duty, Meeting the duty, Enforcing the duty, Disabled people and the duty as well as Sectoral guidance.
The guidance is available to download from http://www.dotheduty.org .
User-friendly websites for all
Key guidance on how to develop a website which is user-friendly for disabled people has been launched following an investigation by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) which revealed 81 per cent of British websites are inaccessible to disabled people, the guidance document, Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 78, was developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and sponsored by the DRC.
Revised Fire Safety Policy for NHSScotland and the Disability Discrimination Act
The DDA requires the adjustment of policies, practices and procedures and, where necessary, the building fabric, so as not to discriminate against disabled people. Measures taken to safeguard persons from the risk of fire may impact on the ability of disabled persons to move freely around the building and on their ability to escape in the event of fire. The revised Fire Safety Policy for NHSScotland [NHS HDL(2005)53] contains information which attempts to address these issues.
Please note NHS HDL(2005)53 has now been superseded by NHS CEL 25 (2008). However the DDA information within HDL(2005)53 remains useful.
Disability Discrimination compliance: Access to mainstream and specialist services for those with sensory loss and a mental health problem
SEHD has issued guidance attached to NHS HDL(2005)27 which draws from previously published material on the best approaches for improved access to mainstream and specialist services for those who are deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, blind or deafblind and also have a mental health problem.
Guide Dogs (formerly Guide Dogs for the Blind Association) has published guidance which sets out minimum standards/guidelines for GPs' surgeries to ensure that their policies and practices take full account of the needs of people with a visual impairment, thus creating a more inclusive environment for all their patients. See Good Practice page for more details.
Fire Safety and Means of Escape for Disabled
People - Seminars
DRC estimates that some 11 million
people in the UK have some form of impairment that may have
an impact on their ability to leave a building in the event
of a fire. On Thursday 7 October 2004, the West Yorkshire
Fire Prevention Panel held a seminar on Fire Safety and Disabled
People where prominent speakers examined the issues from their
specialist viewpoints. See Events
Page for more details.
SEHD allocates £1.5 million of funds to promote
'good practice' in Primary Care with regard to the needs of
disabled patients
The Scottish Executive Health Department
has made available an allocation of £1.5 million to
promote good practice by Primary Care contractors in the promotion
and fulfilment of the requirements of the Disability Discrimination
Act 1995, as announced by the Minister for Health and Community
Care, Malcolm Chisholm, at the DDA Seminar for NHS Contractors
and Staff on 2 December 2003. NHS
Circular HDL(2003)64 gives full details.
DDA Seminar for NHS Contractors and NHS Staff
The Scottish Executive Health Department (SEHD) held a day
long seminar at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre
on 2 December 2003. The purpose of the seminar was to try
to demystify the requirements of the Disability Discrimination
Act 1995 within the particular context of Primary Care NHS
contractors and staff. See Events
Page for more details.
Diversity and Equality Strategy for NHSScotland
On 3 November 2003 Malcolm Chisholm, the Minister for Health
and Community Care, announced a wider equality partnership
to take forward equal opportunities for all staff and to ensure
all patients' needs are met in NHSScotland. The announcement
gave notice that following on from the successful partnership
fostered between the Commission for Racial Equality and NHSScotland
as a result of the "Fair for All" report, this work
will be extended to include the Disability Rights Commission.
Read the Scottish Executive news
release.
Dental
Practice to Split - Recent NHS Grampian news item
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