Reading List

A curated Reading List to support and extend learning from the Deaf Awareness for Pharmacy Staff course.

These resources are intended for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, dispensers, medicines counter staff, delivery staff and other pharmacy team members. Some items focus on NHS practice, some apply more widely to service providers, and some are Deaf-led resources that explain communication access in real settings. Use them alongside your local procedures and statutory requirements.

1. Core Accessibility and Legal Duties

• NHS England - Accessible Information Standard: implementation guidance
  The current NHS guidance on identifying, recording, flagging, sharing, meeting and reviewing communication needs. Relevant to pharmacy teams because it explains how services should ask about needs, record them clearly and act on them consistently.
  https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/

• GOV.UK - Disability: quick start guide for service providers
  A practical Equality Act guide for services, including the legal duty to make reasonable adjustments and examples such as sign language interpreters, alternative formats and planning for accessibility.
  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-guidance/disability-quick-start-guide-for-service-providers-html

• GOV.UK - Reasonable adjustments: a legal duty
  A concise explanation of the legal purpose of reasonable adjustments and why services must change their approach where disabled people would otherwise face barriers to equal access.
  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reasonable-adjustments-a-legal-duty/reasonable-adjustments-a-legal-duty

2. Deaf Access and Communication Support in Healthcare

• SignHealth - Accessible Information Standard
  A Deaf-led explanation of the Accessible Information Standard, covering the practical steps of ask, record, alert, share and provide. Useful for understanding how inaccessible communication affects Deaf patients in healthcare settings.
  https://signhealth.org.uk/resources/ais/

• SignHealth - Posters for health services
  Downloadable Deaf awareness and access posters for healthcare settings, including reminders for staff on supporting Deaf patients and applying the Accessible Information Standard in practice.
  https://signhealth.org.uk/resources/posters-for-health-services/

• NHS England - About NHS 111
  An example of accessible service design showing BSL interpreter access and Relay UK options. Helpful for seeing how alternative communication routes can be built into healthcare services.
  https://www.england.nhs.uk/urgent-emergency-care/nhs-111/accessing-nhs-111/

3. Pharmacy Standards and Person-Centred Care

• GPhC - Standards for pharmacy professionals
  The core professional standards for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, covering person-centred care, effective communication, partnership working and adapting practice to individual needs.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/standards_for_pharmacy_professionals_may_2017_0.pdf

• GPhC - Standards for registered pharmacies
  Standards for the safe and effective running of pharmacies, including governance, service delivery, staff competence, privacy and the environment in which accessible care is delivered.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/document/standards_for_registered_pharmacies_june_2018_0.pdf

4. Understanding BSL and Deaf Perspectives

• British Deaf Association - About BSL and Deaf culture
  A Deaf-led introduction to British Sign Language and Deaf culture. Explains that BSL is a visual-spatial language, not a signed version of English, and places language within community, identity and culture.
  https://bda.org.uk/about-bsl-and-deaf-culture/

• BSL Corpus Project
  An academic resource based at UCL showing the diversity of British Sign Language use. Useful background for recognising that BSL has its own structure and that Deaf communication is not simply written or spoken English in another form.
  https://bslcorpusproject.org/

Use these readings to deepen practical knowledge of Deaf awareness, accessible communication and reasonable adjustments, and to identify steps pharmacy teams can take to improve access and safety for Deaf and hard-of-hearing patients.