Why is it so blinking hard for disabled people to get the care they need from doctors and nurses in the UK? As someone with a disability myself, I know how tough it is to get treated with basic respect and dignity, let alone any accommodations. It seems like medical pros here just don't get what it takes to properly care for patients with disabilities. Well, I reckon there's a whole bundle of reasons why this keeps happening.
First up, medical students simply aren't learning enough about disabilities or how to help patients who have them. Surveys show most junior doctors feel utterly clueless about treating people with learning difficulties, mobility issues, chronic illnesses, or other impairments. The curricula at UK medical schools and postgraduate programs barely touch on disability awareness and competency. Future medical pros aren't required to study the myriad types of disabilities, or the many adaptations that could be made to properly examine, diagnose and treat disabled patients. No wonder newly qualified doctors are so ill-equipped to make accommodations in the NHS later on! Medical schools urgently need to step up and make substantive disability education and training a much bigger part of the core curriculum.
Another massive obstacle for disabled folks is that many GP surgeries, dental practices, and hospitals are bloody difficult to even access in the first place! Narrow corridors, lack of ramps or lifts, cramped and crowded rooms - it's like an obstacle course just getting through the front door! How are wheelchair users supposed to enter and navigate facilities if there are physical barriers everywhere? It's downright impossible for disabled people to get healthcare if they can't even get into the clinic or hospital buildings. The NHS and local trusts need to urgently inspect facilities and secure adequate funding to remove these barriers to access. Charitable funds should also be pursued. Refitting old buildings for accessibility and designing new structures with inclusion in mind benefits everyone.
What's more, so much of healthcare relies heavily on verbal and written information exchanged between provider and patient. But this completely excludes people who have hearing, visual, neurological or cognitive disabilities. They cannot adequately benefit from the standard advice and instructions given in appointments and health literature. However, medical professionals rarely proactively offer communication aids or alternatives, like British Sign Language interpreters, screen readers, braille or easy-to-read materials. So how on earth are disabled patients meant to properly understand diagnoses, treatment plans, medications, aftercare instructions etc. The onus always falls on the disabled person to figure out how to comprehend and be understood - a stressful barrier leading many to avoid seeking healthcare. Providers urgently need to supply a range of communication aids and devote extra appointment time to disabled patients who need it.
Now let's be fully honest here, some medical practitioners also seem to harbor unfair biased assumptions about disabled people. They may think disabled patients have a poorer quality of life not worth sustaining, or won't properly comply with treatments anyway. Or that they aren't worth the extra time and effort needed to understand and meet their needs. This breeds discriminatory behaviors like impatience, condescension, ignoring patient concerns, and refusal to provide accommodations. But this is unfair and unacceptable. All patients, regardless of disability, deserve equal access to respectful, quality, individualized healthcare. Providers should check their biases and get educated on the principles of inclusion.
The intense pressures on GPs and hospital consultants to rush through crammed appointment schedules also take away any flexibility needed to accommodate disabled patients. Appointment times are chronically short, with little leeway to adjust procedures, slow down interactions, repeat information, communicate in alternative formats etc. Understaffing exacerbates the time squeeze. So the care of disabled patients - which often necessitates more time and alternative approaches - gets short-changed. Disability needs become an afterthought instead of a priority. NHS trusts and local commissioning groups need to allow for longer and more frequent appointments for disabled patients - as well as value quality over quantity of care.
Crucially, the Equality Act of 2010 legally mandates that all NHS services must make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people equal access and prevent disability discrimination. However, countless services are flouting this law and failing their duty. Disabled patients shouldn't have to constantly complain, plead and fight just to get basic accommodations like large print forms, BSL interpreters, accessible parking or longer appointment times. These considerations should be provided proactively, appropriately resourced and embedded in standard practice. NHS services must audit their policies, practices and procedures to check they align with legal obligations for disability inclusion and non-discrimination.
So what can be done to finally transform this unacceptable situation? Firstly, medical schools need to significantly strengthen disability awareness, social model principles and competency training throughout the curriculum and assess student competencies. Healthcare regulators should reinforce this requirement. Secondly, NHS trusts must inspect facilities, remove physical access barriers wherever possible and incorporate accessibility into new builds and refurbishments. Thirdly, providers need to proactively enquire about access needs, provide communication aids and devote extra time for disabled patients by default. Disability questions should be routine in medical histories.
Fourthly, more staff training is imperative, along with the recruitment of specialists like disability nurses, patient advocates and interpreters. Fifthly, policies and care pathways must be adapted to better meet disabled people's needs, with their input. Sixthly, resource allocation should reflect the extra costs of accommodations, equipment and staff - the budget must match the scale of need. And lastly, the lived experiences of disabled people regarding barriers and discrimination in healthcare should be regularly gathered and addressed through co-designed improvements.
Disabled people deserve consistently compassionate, respectful and accessible healthcare - with their needs centred from the outset. But the current system is falling far short, with too many professionals unequipped and unwilling to make this a reality. It's on the medical establishment to gain expertise in disability, welcome feedback from the community and consistently modify their services to accommodate diverse access needs. Only through systemic reform can we prevent the all-too-common experience of disabled people facing discrimination just to get healthcare. The solutions seem glaringly obvious to me. But what matters most is that disabled people are finally listened to, and change actually happens.
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