Do you know your patient rights?

Do you, or a family member or someone you care for, have any communication difficulties or needs? As part of our commitment to providing safe care for patients, all NHS services must follow these 5 steps to help support you:

  • Ask if you have any communication needs.
  • Record those needs on your health records.
  • Ensure that those needs are easily visible on your records.
  • Share those needs with other services if you are being referred.
  • Make sure those needs are met as part of your care.

This means that you can tell us what your communication needs are – and expect our full support in meeting them.

This includes getting help from staff with things like requesting an interpreter for your medical appointments (BSL or another language), translating a patient letter for you, or being able to request information in a format that meets your needs (such as braille, large print or easy read).

All NHS organisations across Cheshire and Merseyside have language and interpretation arrangements in place for supporting patients with communication needs to safely access care – so please just ask a member of your healthcare team for the help you need.

What if this doesn’t happen?

You have the right to complain. You can do this at any time by contacting NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Patient Experience Team on:

  • Telephone: 0800 132 996
  • Email: enquiries@cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk
  • Post: Patient Experience Team, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, No 1 Lakeside, 920 Centre Park Square, Warrington, WA1 1QY

Getting further help

Did you know that if you have a communication need or difficulty, you can contact the emergency services using either the Emergency SMS or Relay UK service from anywhere in the UK?

What do I need to do?

  • To use Emergency SMS - text the word 'register' to 999 to set up the service on any mobile phone or device, or go to: emergencysms.net
  • To use Relay UK - dial ‘18000’ through the Next Generation Text (NGT) app, or from any textphone now to get set up, or go to: relayuk.bt.com

Please don’t wait for an emergency situation before doing this – get prepared by setting up your access now, just in case.