Accessibility statement

Last updated: 15 August 2023

This accessibility statement applies to www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk

This website is run by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website. This means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible is our website

We know that some parts of our website are not fully accessible:

• some headings are not in sequentially-descending order
• our buttons do not all have accessible names
• some of our images do not have a text alternative
• some of our videos do not have accurate captions
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• some of our forms are difficult to navigate using assistive technologies, like screen readers
• some pages show a Google map which screen reader users and keyboard users can find difficult to use
• some of our third party forms may not meet WCAG 2.1
• the CQC widget is not able to be navigated to by keyboard
• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

You can get in touch by calling 0300 422 2222, or by emailing ghn-tr.comms@nhs.net

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 7 days.

If you cannot view the maps on our Hospital locations and maps page, please get in touch for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Communications Team: ghn-tr.comms@nhs.net

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Visit our hospitals

We can arrange for British Sign Language (BSL) and foreign language interpreters to support you during your visit to our hospitals.

Technical information about our website’s accessibility

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

The website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• Some images and buttons do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
  We plan to add text alternatives for all non-decorate images and buttons. When new content is published, we ensure to meet accessibility standards.
• Some videos do not have accurate captions, so people with hearing impairments cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 captions (pre-recorded).
  All videos uploaded to YouTube are subject to automatic captioning, which we will ensure are edited so they are correct. All new video content uploaded to our website will include captions or a full accompanying transcript.
• Some of our Heading elements are not in a sequentially-descending order.
  When new content is published, we will ensure that headings appear in a sequential order.
• Widgets: On the homepage of our website we use the Care Quality Commission (CQC) widget to display ratings on our website. This widget does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.3 Contrast (Minimum) or 2.4.7 Focus Visible. This widget is created and maintained by the CQC.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, patient information leaflets, and forms published as Word documents.

The majority of these documents are accessible HTML pages, such as our patient information leaflets. However, other PDFs which contain complex visual data, have a large number of pages have not been converted. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 15 August 2023. It was last reviewed on 30 August 2023.

This website was last tested on 1 August 2023. The test was carried out internally by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

We tested one page, randomly selected from each page template that exists on our site.