Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust has become the latest of over 90 NHS Trusts to partner with AccessAble; the UK’s leading provider of detailed disabled access information.

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust has worked with AccessAble to create Detailed Access Guides to facilities for all their patient-facing community and mental health sites and services.

The Guides are 100 percent facts, figures and photographs to help patients, visitors and staff plan their journeys to and around the sites, covering everything from parking facilities and hearing loops, to walking distances and accessible toilets.

AccessAble have surveyed scores of local organisations, shops and facilities, as well as tens of thousands nationally. This partnership is based on an understanding that everyone’s accessibility needs are different, which is why having detailed, accurate information is so important. All of the details the user sees in the Guide have been checked in person, on site, by trained surveyors.

As well as being available on AccessAble’s website, every location page of the Mersey Care website now has an up to date link for anyone to check the site they may need to visit.

Anna Nelson, Chief Executive of AccessAble, said: 

“We are delighted to launch this new Accessibility Guide to Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. Our partnership recognises the Trust’s commitment to providing great patient experience for disabled people. 

We know that attending an appointment can increase anxiety and not being able to find out about the facilities available can really add to that. Our Guides provide part of the solution to reduce missed appointments, giving the information people need about accessibility, so they plan their visit and feel confident about what to expect.”

Elaine Darbyshire, Mersey Care’s Executive Director of Estates, said:

“This partnership gives an independent, informed assessment of our sites, which anyone using our services can view before visiting. We are pledged to continue improving accessibility and the work done here shows that we’re committed to being transparent about people’s needs at our locations and how people experience accessing them.”

View Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Accessibility Guide.

It is also available via the AccessAble App which is free to download from the App Store and Google Play, giving the public immediate accessibility information at their fingertips during visits to Trust services.

The information to Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust joins over 70,000 places already covered across the UK, making www.AccessAble.co.uk a valuable tool not only for planning a hospital visit, but also a day out or trip away.

For more information about the project, please contact Ellen Ilott, Senior Partnerships Manager at AccessAble on 01438 842710 or email [email protected].

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