The Trust is delighted to have become the latest of over 80 NHS Trusts to partner with accessibility organisation ‘AccessAble’ to create Detailed Access Guides to ALL our Trust clinical sites and services. The Access Guides are 100% facts, figures, and photographs to help patients, visitors and staff plan their journeys to and around the sites, covering everything from parking facilities, hearing loops, walking distances and accessible toilets.
A formal launch was held on Monday 17th October at the Harplands with a number of people joining remotely in addition to those participating in the face-to-face launch event.
Dr Buki Adeyemo, Interim Chief Executive of North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust said:
“The AccessAble tool/App is an exciting new opportunity to allow us to be much more inclusive and accommodating to those with disabilities, neurodiversity and other health conditions when visiting our sites and services. We are thrilled to partner with AccessAble to make Combined Healthcare more accessible for service users and staff alike, and I am sure the launch will be a stepping stone towards our aim of making all of our outstanding healthcare provisions inclusive and accessible to all.”
Ben Richards, Executive Director of Operations at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust said:
“We’re excited to be working with AccessAble because it’s incredibly important to us that we meet the needs of everyone who visits our hospital. We are ambitious about creating an environment that is as supportive and equitable as possible and navigating around our sites will now be easier to do thanks to the launch of the AccessAble guides.
Our clinical teams have worked with AccessAble’s surveyors to ensure that these guides truly represent what you can expect to experience on our sites. At Combined Healthcare we are passionate about meeting the needs of our service users and creating spaces where they feel comfortable. Our partnership with AccessAble has helped us deliver this goal.
We hope these guides provide the information people need about accessibility, making journeys to, from and around our sites the best experience possible”.
Anna Nelson, Chief Executive of AccessAble, said:
“We are delighted to launch this new Accessibility Guide to North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust. Our partnership recognises the Trust’s commitment to providing great patient experience for disabled people.
We know that visiting a hospital can increase anxiety and not being able to find out about the facilities available can really add to that. Our Guides provide part of the solution to reduce missed appointments, giving the information people need about accessibility, so they plan their visit and feel confident about what to expect”.
Teams and Service Users are encouraged to ultize the new AccessAble guides for accessiblity information about each Trust location.
To view the Trust’s AccessAble guides click here
Learn more information about the Trust’s work with AccessAble click here
For any queries about the new AccessAble guides please email Diversity@combined.co.uk