Request the adjustment before the appointment is booked around a barrier
An interpreter, BSL support, longer appointment, quiet waiting area or accessible format is part of safe communication, not an optional courtesy.
Your communication passport
Keep it short enough to send with every referral or booking.
- Preferred language or communication method and whether a qualified interpreter is required.
- Format needs such as large print, Easy Read, audio, email, text or screen-reader compatible documents.
- Hearing, speech, vision, learning, cognitive, sensory or mobility barriers staff should plan for.
- How to address you and any support person you consent to involve.
- Extra processing time, breaks, a quiet space or one speaker at a time if helpful.
- How urgent information and appointment changes should reach you.
Confirm these with the service
Do not assume the adjustment follows automatically between departments.
- Has the adjustment been recorded on this appointment as well as my main record?
- Who books and pays for the professional interpreter?
- Will translated or accessible information be available before I must consent?
- Can the appointment be lengthened or moved to a suitable room?
- Who should I contact if the adjustment is missing on the day?
A request that names the safety need
Send it early and keep a copy.
“I need a qualified BSL interpreter to understand information and give informed consent. A relative cannot safely replace this. Please confirm the interpreter booking in writing.”
“I cannot use scanned image letters with my screen reader. Please provide the appointment and treatment information as accessible digital text.”
Make communication support part of the appointment
Good support is specific. “Needs help communicating” is less useful than naming the language, format, professional support, appointment length and physical access that make the conversation workable.
Tell the booking team as early as possible and ask them to record the need where future staff will see it. In England, the Accessible Information Standard covers disability-related information and communication needs in NHS and publicly funded adult social care. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland use their own standards and service arrangements.
For consent, diagnosis, treatment risk or safeguarding conversations, ask for a qualified professional interpreter or communication professional. A relative can still attend for support if the patient wants them there, but should not carry the burden of interpreting complex or distressing information.
Communication needs can change with fatigue, surgery, medicines or distress. At the start of the appointment, agree how to pause, ask questions and check understanding. Request the follow-up information in a form the patient can use independently.
A practical way through it
Use the parts that fit your situation and leave the rest.
- Describe the exact needState the spoken or signed language, accessible format, communication aid, hearing loop, quiet space, step-free access or extra time required.
- Ask who will arrange itConfirm that the service, not the patient, is booking the appropriate professional and ask how the booking will be confirmed.
- Prepare key questionsSend or take a short list in priority order. Include medicines, choices, risks, warning signs and who to contact after the appointment.
- Agree the speaking patternAsk clinicians to use short sections, avoid unexplained jargon and leave time for interpretation, processing or use of a communication aid.
- Use teach-backIn the patient’s preferred method, explain the plan back in their own words. This checks the explanation rather than testing the patient.
- Record needs for next timeBefore leaving, ask staff to flag the successful adjustments and confirm that letters, results and booking messages will use the requested format.
What this can look like
When an interpreter has not been booked
Anya arrives for a treatment-consent appointment and finds that staff expect her adult son to interpret information about risks and alternatives.
A safer response
Anya asks the team to record that a professional interpreter is required and that her son is attending only as personal support.
The team checks whether an appropriate remote interpreter can join safely or whether the non-urgent consent discussion must be rearranged.
Before the next appointment, Anya requests written confirmation of the interpreter, longer slot and translated follow-up information.
State what is needed
- Ask for the required language, format, communication support, hearing loop, longer appointment or easy-read material.
- Tell staff which needs should be flagged for future contacts.
Use safe interpretation
- Ask for a professional interpreter for important clinical conversations.
- Avoid relying on a child or untrained relative for consent, risk or safeguarding information.
Check understanding
- Ask clinicians to use plain language and pause for questions.
- Repeat the plan back and confirm medicines, warning signs, contacts and the next step.
A manageable next step
What you could do now
- Contact the service before the appointment with your exact needs.
- Ask for the adjustment to be recorded.
- Request written follow-up in the same accessible format.
Checked sources
Read the original guidance
We summarise carefully and link to the source so you can check the full, most current information. Sources were checked 9 September 2026.