The Equality Act (2010) states all organisations including health and social care, such as hospitals and GP surgeries must take steps to remove the barriers individuals face because of disability.

The NHS must make it as easy for disabled people to use health services as it is for people who are not disabled.

Disability is one of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. The Act says that a person has a disability if they have a “physical or mental impairment”, and the impairment has a “substantial and long-term adverse effect on [their] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

People who need reasonable adjustments and how you might be able to help them

If you support someone with a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to do normal daily activities, please make sure they have good access to healthcare.

You can do this by making changes, often quite small, to the way that you care for people. These changes are called reasonable adjustments.

Reasonable adjustments can be things like:

• making sure there is good access for people who use a wheelchair in GP surgeries and hospitals
• providing plain English or easy read appointment letters
• giving someone a priority appointment if they find it difficult waiting in their GP surgery or hospital
• offering a longer appointment if someone needs more time with a doctor or nurse to make sure they understand the information they are given
• having a quiet space available for people waiting for their appointment
• making sure there is a hearing loop system in consultation rooms
• making sure you fill in information about the appointment If a person has a hospital or health and care passport
• ensure there is access to a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter to support at appointments or an internet video-link that could be used with BSL interpretation remotely
• using a communication chart to support a person with dementia during an appointment

Reasonable adjustments are a legal requirement to make sure health services are accessible to all disabled people. Please watch the film below to find out how a simple reasonable adjustment can make a big difference to a person’s experience of quality and access to care.

Watch the film below about Kareem and his mum Fazilla’s experience of reasonable adjustments and the difference it makes to them when reasonable adjustments are offered.

What is the reasonable adjustment digital flag?

The reasonable adjustment digital flag is a national, visible marker on a person’s record, which indicates any reasonable adjustments needed by a person with a disability whenever and wherever they are seen or treated by any publicly-funded health and social care service.

The digital flag enables services to record, share and view the reasonable adjustments and take steps to meet them.

Once fully implemented across England, the reasonable adjustment digital flag is expected to help millions of disabled people who need reasonable adjustments, helping them to access health and social care services more easily and more equitably.

All NHS and other health and social care services that are publicly funded must be able to share, write and read reasonable adjustment digital flags by 30 September 2026.

For health and social care service providers

Important information for health and care providers about reasonable adjustment digital flags

A new information standard for the reasonable adjustment digital flag was published by the NHS in December 2025. You can read it here: Information Standards Notice, December 2025.

The new information standard makes 3 key changes:

1. It requires that all NHS and other health and social care services that are publicly funded take steps to comply fully with the information standard by 30 September 2026 – enabling them to share, read and write reasonable adjustments data via NHS England’s National Care Records Service (previously known as ‘the NHS spine’).

You can read this summary checklist of actions all providers must now follow.

2. The deadline for full national compliance has been extended from 31 December 2025 to 30 September 2026 to allow more time for the large number of health and social care providers and their software suppliers to get ready for full national compliance.
3. The new information standard changes the basis of consent required for sharing a person’s personal information from explicit to implied consent. Information on the reasonable adjustment digital flag will be shared by implied consent and, as such people can raise objections to this data being shared at any time, unless there is a valid reason why it should be shared. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 should be consulted with regards to decisions about capacity and competence.

Health and care providers: What actions must you take?

By 30 September 2026, all health and care providers must:

• have processes in place to identify, record, flag, share, meet, review and update people’s reasonable adjustment needs on their software systems
• ensure their software suppliers have registered their software on NHS England’s national supplier interest list
• ensure all staff who use disabled people’s records learn about and understand reasonable adjustments so it becomes part of a standard approach to care and treatment for all disabled people. Health and social care professionals can get free, online training here: reasonable adjustment digital flag – e-learning

Further 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).

Other key relevant policy and guidance:

• Equality Act 2010
• Accessible Information Standard
• Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Information Standard