The Accessible Information Standard was introduced in August 2016 to ensure that NHS organisations had a consistent approach to identifying, recording, and flagging patients who had communication support needs, and ensuring that this information is used to communicate with the patient in their preferred format, and the patient is able to access services they need.

The following accessible areas are identified:

Primary Care IT has created a set of searches which identify patients who match any of these standards. A second set of searches is also offered to list patients who have been coded as requiring a specific communication method, whether in person or for written communication.

Practices can use these searches to survey patients in order to document their accessible information needs. The NHS England website hosts the AIS Specification document which is a comprehensive guide of organisation requirements to support patients with communication needs.