A hospital highlight

Retired Paediatrician Una MacFadyen has been reviewing the dyslexia friendliness of hospital signs

“At Forth Valley Royal Hospital we are working to help young people who will be leaving the children’s clinics and children’s ward and starting to attend the adult services.

The Health and Social Care Partners and the Quality Improvement and Realistic Medicine teams, hope to make the hospital more dyslexia friendly starting with the information boards and signs.

Based on Dyslexia Scotland’s tips in their new formatting guide, and with encouragement from the Bannockburn Library Makers Space, we are testing a change in the layout and format of some of the signs in the main public entrance.

We will be depending on patient, carer and visitor feedback to then move on to other areas for change. If all goes well, we might even get to patient letters in the future.

I was guided by a brave dyslexic 11-year-old volunteer and his Mum, with lived experience to identify what most needs to change, in his opinion. This first step has highlighted how many adults of all ages have struggled to use standard written NHS communication due to their dyslexia.
I hope this means that the changes we plan to make will help patients of all ages. I know that our simple changes will not answer every individual’s needs but this might be a nudge towards greater awareness of how neurodiversity must be recognised and included in every service offered to the public.”