Accessibility statement for wchc.nhs.uk
This accessibility statement applies to wchc.nhs.uk
This website is run by Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (WCHC). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We have also made the website wording as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- Some of our images do not have text alternatives (alt-text) – all images will have text alterations by December 2023
- Some images of text are used across the site that might be difficult to interpret using screen reader software
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:
- Email [email protected]
- Call 0151 514 2888 – please ask to speak to a member of the Communications and Marketing Team
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: [email protected]
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).
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
We provide interpretation and translation services to patients and service users who require alternative methods of communications
Hearing loops are available across all of our 12 Trust managed sites and we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
To arrange interpretation and translation services please call the telephone number on your appointment letter – the team will be happy to help you.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Wirral Community Health and Care 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
This 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
PDFs and other documents
Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships, 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), 1.4.5 Images of text, 1.4.12 Text spacing and 2.4.6 Headings and labels. By 31 December 2023, we will have either fixed these or replaced them with accessible HTML pages.
Images
Some images 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 images by December 2023. When we publish new content we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Some images of text are used across the site that might be difficult to interpret using screen reader software. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 (images of text). We plan to remove or add text alternatives for all images by December 2023.
Disproportionate burden
Navigation and accessing information
There is no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).
It is not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.
It is not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.
Interactive tools and transactions
Some of our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website. Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.
We have assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when the supplier contract is up for renewal, likely to be in 12 months (August 2024).
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to delivering our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By 31 December 2023, we will have either fixed these or replaced them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix the Annual Report 2017/18.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Videos
We plan to add captions to all video content on our website, hosted on our Vimeo channel.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
Our accessibility roadmap shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website.
We have:
- An annual accessibility audit completed via our trusted agency.
- Accessibility training completed with our trusted agency.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 22 December 2020. It was last reviewed on 17 August 2023.
This website was last tested on 26 July 2023. The test was carried out by our trusted agency, who carried out testing on all the key pages and the main page types as a representative sample of all content.
