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<p>It is for individual National Health Service organisations, including NHS trusts
and integrated care boards, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which
is available at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance</a></p><p>The
act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial
and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day
activities. Further information on the definition of disability according to the act
can be found at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010</a></p><p>No
assessment has been made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England
on the categorisation of disability. NHS England has issued guidance for NHS commissioners
on equality and health inequalities legal duties. It has also issued guidance with
respect to the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag (the Flag). 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 disabled people as they are for everybody
else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments. The 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. It is now accessible
on the National Care Records Service, which is available at the following link:</p><p><a
href="https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service" target="_blank">https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service</a></p><p>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, which is available
at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/"
target="_blank">https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/</a></p><p>It
also provides the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments
for patients. 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.</p><p>The
Flag provides basic context about a patient, key adjustments, and the details related
to this and 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, which
is an impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day
activity. It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition
that is the source of the patient’s impairment, in line with the Equality Act 2010
guidance. The impairment type list in the guidance shows the impairment types that
can be recorded.</p>
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