Signs aim to point the way to healthcare

HOW a sign at Oldham’s Integrated Care Centre will look.

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OLDHAM is leading the way with an innovative project designed to make life easier for people with learning difficulties.

The Accessible Information Made Easy project — known as AIME — is thought to be the first of its kind in the country.

A total of 25 pictorial signs have been made to illustrate a wide range of health and social care services, including dermatology, audiology, practice nurses and physiotherapy.

The project aims to help people with learning disabilities, visual problems, lower than average literacy skills or those who find it difficult to read English.

These groups told health professionals they sometimes struggled to find their way around health centres and were often late for appointments.

Rosie Kingham, of NHS Oldham, who helped to develop the project, said: “It was great fun developing it, but the real reward will be seeing people being able to easily find the healthcare they need.”

The signs were developed in partnership between NHS Oldham and people who use Oldham Personal Advocacy Limited (OPAL), Oldham’s communication therapy team, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, women from Oldham’s black and minority ethnic communities and disability-related groups across the borough.

Camilla Guereca, chief executive of OPAL, said: “We are delighted to have been involved in such an exciting development that will help vulnerable adults get the healthcare they need.

“Projects such as this support what we are striving to achieve, which is to allow people with learning disabilities maintain their independence.”

The signs will be used for the first time at Oldham’s integrated care centre (ICC) when it opens in the autumn.

Eventually the pictures will also be used on appointment cards, patient factsheets and leaflets.

NHS Oldham has now secured copyright for the signs and it is expected that eventually they will be used nationally.