The Hidden Menu — ask your hospital by name

The one thing to know first. Hospitals keep "alerts" on patient records — flags that show every member of staff a red banner with what you need. There are official names for each one, and you can't add them yourself: a staff member has to request it. At Great Western Hospital, the trust's own Patient Alert Policy names PALS and the Accessibility team as the people who handle these requests. So the move is: contact PALS, in writing, and ask for the alert by its official name.

Source: GWH's PAS/EPR Patient Alert Policy, obtained via Freedom of Information, October 2026. PALS contact details are on the hospital website — or visit the PALS office in person.

The menu — ask by name

These are the hospital's own alert names. Using them means nobody can say they don't know what you mean.

If you need…	Say: "please add an Accessible Information Alert — [name]"
Letters or messages in a format you can use (large print, easy read, email instead of post)	Contact Format Required
To be contacted a certain way (text not phone, email not call)	Contact Method Required
Help with talking or understanding — an advocate, a device, sign language, visual aids	Communication Support Used — Advocates / Devices / Sign Language / Visual Aids
Someone to interpret or support communication professionally	Professional Communicator Required
Reading is hard or impossible	Reading Problems
Memory makes appointments hard	Memory Problems
Understanding speech is hard	Comprehension of Speech Problem
You're deaf or hard of hearing	Deaf / Hard of Hearing
You're blind or partially sighted	Visual Impairment — Registered Blind / Partially Sighted
A learning difficulty or disability affects your care	Learning Difficulty / Learning Disability
Walking, standing or moving around is hard	Physical Disability Affecting Activity / Physical Mobility
Sensory needs — lights, noise, smells, crowds; anything about how care is delivered (extra time, a double appointment slot, a quieter room)	Reasonable Adjustment — write your own words, e.g. "lights dimmed, quiet waiting area, no background music, first or last appointment"

What about sensory requirements?

The honest answer: there is no named "sensory" alert in the hospital's policy. The named codes cover communication and access needs — but not lights, noise, smells or crowds. That absence is worth knowing: it's the gap in their own paperwork, made visible by their own words.

But the Reasonable Adjustment alert is a free-text flag — the policy's own example shows it carrying a plain sentence ("requires time to move between locations"). So your sensory needs go in as a Reasonable Adjustment written by you — arguably stronger than a tick-box, because nobody can misfile "lights low, no music, let me wait outside the waiting room" as anything else.

Sticks to your record → the PALS route (the message below): put "Reasonable Adjustment" in the alert-name line, and your sensory list — your own words — in the "because" line.
Applies to one appointment → the letter's ACCESS line: the appointment letter says to contact the relevant Outpatients department beforehand. For that one visit, ask in those words: "I'm contacting you per the ACCESS line on my letter — I need a quiet waiting area / dimmed lighting / a first or last appointment."

If a department says sensory adjustments "aren't a thing", the Equality Act says otherwise — reasonable adjustments cover sensory environments, not just ramps and interpreters. You don't need a diagnosis to ask.

Your message — fill in and send

To: PALS, [hospital name] Hello, my name is [name], date of birth [DOB], NHS number [if you know it]. Under the hospital's Patient Alert Policy, I'm asking for an alert to be added to my record so staff can see what I need before every appointment. Please treat this as the written request the policy asks for. Please add: [the alert name(s) from the menu] Because: [one sentence in your own words, e.g. "phone calls cause me severe difficulty" or "fluorescent lights and busy waiting rooms cause me severe distress — I need lights dimmed, a quiet waiting area, and a first or last appointment"] Please confirm in writing once the alert has been added, and let me know who added it. If any part of this request needs to go to someone else, please pass it on and tell me who. Thank you.

One alert per need is fine — the policy even says some alerts work best separately. Keep a copy of what you send. Written = it exists.

What happens next

The alert becomes a red banner on your record that all staff systems can see, every time anyone opens your file.
The alert's own text carries the instruction — for example "double appointment slot" or "easy read". So put what you need in your own words in the "because" line.
You can see your own alerts — patient records can be released to you under a Subject Access Request. Useful if you want proof of what's on file.
If nothing happens: chase PALS once, politely, in writing. If it's still nothing, that's a complaint — and the complaint route takes over.
Appointment letters: the letter's ACCESS line says to contact the Outpatients department beforehand — for changes to a specific appointment that's the fast route; for anything that should stick to your record, use the PALS route above.

Why asking "by name" works. The hospital confirmed in a Freedom of Information reply (October 2026) that: nobody asks you about these needs at registration or referral; the appointment letter only vaguely mentions adjustments; and the number of flags on records isn't counted anywhere. In other words — the help exists, but nobody will offer it, and nobody is measuring it. The system moves when you name the thing in its own language. That's this page.

This page is general self-advocacy information, not medical or legal advice. Adjustments are a legal right under the Equality Act 2010 — you do not need a diagnosis to ask. In an emergency, always use 999 or 111. PALS is free.

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