Healthcare: accessibility culture self-assessment

Look at the work behind the experience

Choose one real journey.

A patient may search for care, schedule an appointment, use a portal or telehealth service, and receive follow-up instructions. Choose one process and examine how decisions across teams support participation from start to finish.

Scheduling and preparing for an appointment
Using a portal or telehealth service
Receiving and acting on follow-up information

Whose perspective is included?

Bring a service or operations owner, a decision-maker, patient communications and digital teams, procurement or vendor partners where relevant, accessibility expertise, and patients or staff affected by barriers.

Start on your own if helpful, then compare perspectives. One person’s reflection does not establish a culture across the whole organization.

Accessibility culture challenges in healthcare

Scheduling, portals, communications, and vendors may have separate decision-makers.
Access barriers can recur at handoffs between digital systems and operational teams.
Patient feedback needs an accessible, privacy-conscious route into process decisions.

Reflect. Find evidence. Choose a next step.

Your initial accessibility culture assessment

Think about recent work in the scope you choose. For each area, select the description best supported by what you know. “Not sure” is a useful finding.

Developmental assessment — not validated. These preliminary indicators reflect the six proposed ACLT organizational capabilities. The baseline is a planning aid, not a validated ACLT scale, maturity classification, certification, or technical accessibility or compliance result.

Each capability has one preliminary indicator rated 0–4. All six have equal weight. A full baseline is calculated only when all six can be rated; “Not sure” is an evidence gap, not a zero. These indicators are a new planning aid, not the study’s quantitative index or a validated survey.

What do the response options mean?

Not yet in place: We have evidence that this practice is not currently in place within the scope we chose.
Depends on individuals: It happens mainly through a particular person, extra effort, or repeated reminders.
Defined, starting to use: Expectations are documented and initial examples exist, but use or support is still inconsistent.
Repeatable with support: Clear expectations, ownership, and support are used in recent work.
Sustained and improved: Examples over time show the practice continuing across people or teams, with feedback used to improve it.
Not sure / need evidence: We do not have enough evidence, or perspectives differ. This is different from knowing a practice is absent.

Look for examples and exceptions. A written policy alone does not demonstrate that a practice is used.

Use de-identified process summaries only. Keep patient information, diagnoses, clinical records, and confidential staff details in approved healthcare systems. Responses stay in this browser and are not sent to the Institute or synced to your member account.

01Leadership Commitment

Leaders consistently prioritize accessibility through direction, resources, communication, and their own decisions.

Do healthcare leaders and service sponsors consistently prioritize accessibility in access to care and digital service journeys, including time, resources, and support?

Think about: Recent priority decisions, allocated time or budget, leadership communication, and examples of leaders resolving constraints.

02Governance and Accountability

Structures, decision rights, policies, and oversight turn intentions into repeatable responsibilities.

Are responsibilities, decision authority, and escalation routes clear across the teams that shape access to care and digital service journeys?

Think about: Role agreements, approval criteria, purchasing requirements, escalation examples, and follow-up records.

03Organizational Values

Shared beliefs and professional norms make accessibility part of what people expect from good work.

Do everyday choices show that accessibility and the participation of disabled patients and staff are shared expectations, even when priorities compete?

Think about: Examples of trade-offs, team expectations, perspectives of disabled people, and decisions changed by that input.

04Workforce Capability

Knowledge, practical skills, collaboration, and support distribute accessibility capability across roles.

Can digital, communications, operational, procurement, and service staff apply accessibility in their roles, collaborate, and obtain practical help?

Think about: Role-specific tasks, usable guidance, preparation time, specialist support, and completed work examples.

05Organizational Learning

Education, mentoring, feedback, reflection, and shared problem solving refine practice over time.

Do patient-experience feedback and service reviews lead to shared learning and changes in how work is done?

Think about: Learning activities, mentoring, review notes, shared lessons, implemented changes, and follow-up evidence.

06Socio-Technical Alignment

Governance, technology, tools, workflows, and collaboration support accessibility throughout digital delivery.

Do portals, scheduling, telehealth, communication tools, and service handoffs support accessibility from planning through ongoing use?

Think about: Planning requirements, tool and template choices, procurement or release checkpoints, handoffs, and maintained services.

All six questions and response descriptions are readable without JavaScript. Use your browser’s Print command to keep a copy, or open the detailed healthcare culture review guide. The interactive snapshot and download need JavaScript.

Your self-reported snapshot

Your starting point

Developmental baseline

Not validated. This self-reported result is for reflection within the scope reviewed. Do not use it to rank organizations.

Self-reported strengths

Indicators rated 3 or 4 suggest practices to sustain and verify.

Improvement opportunities

Indicators rated 0–2 suggest practices to develop or support.

Evidence to clarify

These responses describe your current view. Check them with the people involved and the evidence available; they have not been independently verified.

Your six capability indicators
Area	Your response	Example or evidence to check

Choose one place to begin

Consider the impact on people, how often a barrier recurs, who can make a change, and the support available. You choose the priority; the tool does not rank the areas.

First area to focus on (optional)One practice or decision to change (optional)

Accountable role (optional)

Next review date (optional)

Review my responses

From reflection to practice

Take the next useful step.

Explore your sector tools

Use practical resources and the 90-day planner to turn one priority into supported work.

Open the healthcare action planner →

Review the evidence together

Use the longer conversation guide to examine examples, missing evidence, and different perspectives.

Open the detailed culture review →

Plan a focused pilot

Choose a manageable scope, agree an owner, and decide what evidence would show a change in practice.

Explore pilot programs →

Start with the culture behind access to care.