Why this works. Freedom of Information (FOI) is a legal right: any person can ask any NHS trust to release recorded information, for free, and the trust must answer within 20 working days. You don't need to explain why you're asking. One reply showed us a hospital with no question about sensory needs at registration, one vague letter line about adjustments, and no count of its own adjustment flags. Imagine a map of that, trust by trust, built by patients.
How to send it — four steps
- Find your trust's FOI address. Search "[your hospital trust] Freedom of Information" — every NHS trust has a page with an FOI email or web form.
- Send from your own email, with your real first name and surname at the bottom (FOI replies go to whoever asks; a first name is enough to identify you, and they may not demand more).
- Paste the questions below — all twelve, or start with the five marked ⚡ if a shorter email feels better.
- Send us what comes back: a copy of the reply (and any documents) to hello@sensoryjustice.co.uk. We'll add your trust to the national picture and, where answers show a gap, build the tool that fixes it — like we did with the Hidden Menu.
Privacy note: if you'd rather keep your request off your own email record, whatdotheyknow.com lets you send FOI requests free — but replies there are published publicly. A direct email keeps the exchange private between you, the trust and us.
The email — copy, fill in, send
To: [trust FOI email address]
Subject: Freedom of Information request — sensory needs,
reasonable adjustments and patient alerts
Dear [Trust name],
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide:
[questions from the list below — all twelve, or the five marked ⚡]
If any part of this request needs clarifying, please contact me
at this email address before refusing or narrowing it.
I understand a response is due within 20 working days.
Yours faithfully,
[Your first name and surname]
The twelve questions
- ⚡ Does the trust's patient registration or referral process include any documented step that asks patients about their sensory, communication or accessibility needs? If yes, please provide the relevant procedure or form.
- ⚡ Do the trust's standard appointment letters inform patients that they may request reasonable adjustments? Please provide the current appointment letter template.
- ⚡ What patient-facing materials exist that list the specific adjustments patients can request? Please provide copies or links.
- Under what policy can a patient request that a reasonable adjustment or Accessible Information alert be added to their record — and which staff roles are authorised to add such alerts? Please provide the policy.
- What process, if any, exists for clinic teams to review and act on adjustment alerts before a patient's appointment (e.g. pre-appointment planning or clinic-list reports for adjustment alerts)?
- What is the trust's current status regarding implementation of the national Reasonable Adjustment Flag?
- ⚡ What alternative appointment-booking routes exist for patients who cannot use telephone calls (e.g. text, email, online booking, relay services)?
- Does the trust have a named autism or learning disability liaison lead? Is this role set out in a formal job description? If yes, please provide it.
- What is PALS's documented role in supporting patients to request reasonable adjustments?
- How many patient records currently carry a reasonable adjustment, accessible information or sensory-needs alert? If this is not held in a reportable format, please state that.
- Has the trust completed any sensory or environmental accessibility assessment of its wards or departments in the last 24 months? If yes, please provide the report(s), redacted as necessary.
- ⚡ How many complaints, concerns or queries logged by the trust in the last 25 months mention autism, sensory needs or reasonable adjustments? Please give counts by category.
Question 12 is the one to watch. At Great Western Hospital the answer was 160 logged contacts in 25 months — complaints, concerns and queries mentioning autism, sensory needs or adjustments. It is the clearest receipt that the need is real and the system already knows it. Whatever number your trust returns, it belongs on the map.
If the reply is late, thin or refused
- Over 20 working days? One polite nudge: "Please could you confirm the status of my FOI request of [date]?"
- Refused or oddly narrow? Ask for an internal review — the trust must reconsider its own decision. You can also ask the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to look at it, free.
- Answers that only point at a website? That's still data. "The letter mentions adjustments once and points at a website" is a finding, not a failure.
- Whatever they say — send it to us. A "yes, we do all this well" answer is as useful as a gap: it shows what good looks like, and we'll say so publicly.
This page is general information about using your FOI rights, not legal advice. FOI requests are free. NHS 111 for urgent help; 999 in an emergency.
Next: The Hidden Menu — what to actually ask for once you're in the system →