Accessibility Statement for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website
This statement applies to content on the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals’ website - https://www.lancsteachinghospitals.nhs.uk.
This website is run by the Communications Department at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 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
- navigate some of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (for example, ReachDeck)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. In areas, there may be medical terminology used.
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. For example:
- many documents in PDF format are not accessible
- some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English
- some images do not have a text alternative that clearly describe the information or function represented by them
- site accordions (drop downs) are not fully accessible to screen readers
- the third-party software, ReachDeck, has several accessibility issues
- some heading elements are not consistent
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 website@lthtr.nhs.uk
- call 01772 523 397
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
If you cannot view the map on our Site Maps page, call or email us for directions.
Reporting accessibility problems with this site
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 Trust’s Communication Department by email to website@lthtr.nhs.uk.
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 a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.
Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Find out how to contact us.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Lancashire Teaching 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
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
- Heading markup is used in different ways - WCAG 2.2 / F43: Failure of Success Criterion 1.3.1 due to using structural markup in a way that does not represent relationships in the content
- Our accordions are modifying aria roles labels in the the code in a way that may affect screen readers - WCAG 2.1 F43: Failure of Success Criterion 1.3.1 due to using structural markup in a way that does not represent relationships in the content
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There are tables in some of our PDF documents that are not correctly marked up - WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Tables.
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Some of our PDFs have issues with page titles WCAG 2.4.2, and with Page language WCAG 3.1.1 and with Non-text content WCAG 1.1.1
- Our accordions contain lists that are not structured correctly - WCAG 2.1 F43: Failure of Success Criterion 1.3.1 due to using structural markup in a way that does not represent relationships in the content
- Our logo bar contains arrows that are not focusable - WCAG 4.1.2 Failure of Success Criterion to ensure that Assistive Technologies (AT) can gather information about, activate(or set) and keep up to date on the status of user interface controls in the content.
- A sidebar element that appears on several pages contains an id attribute that is not unique - WCAG 2.1 / F70: Failure of Success Criterion 4.1.1 due to incorrect use of start and end tags or attribute mark-up
- Some of our embedded third party content (i.e. YouTube or Google Maps) have frame elements that are not accessible - WCAG 4.1.2 Failure of Success Criterion to ensure that Assistive Technologies (AT) can gather information about, activate (or set) and keep up to date on the status of user interface controls in the content.
We plan to correct the above issues by 30th June 2024.
Images
Some images on this website contain text - WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5. or WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
Some of the images on our site are complex diagrams where suitable alt text is not possible. A list of these images is available here. By 30th June 2024 we intend to have reviewed all of these images, and where possible will have converted them to accessible format, used a different visualisation method or added detailed description text to the page.
Video
Video content uses automated closed captioning and transcription, and this is often inaccurate. By 30th June 2024 we will review these captions and ensure their accuracy manually.
ReachDeck
- Between 200% and 400% zoom:
- when you have both the Translate page and MP3 Maker options on, you cannot scroll down far enough in order to see the Generate button.
- on the settings page, some drop down fields are partially cut off.
- when choosing the simplify option, the options that appear at the top of the screen overlap.
- when choosing an option that opens information below the toolbar such as the question mark icon or Picture Dictionary, then the toolbar covers the entire page and you cannot access the options to close it again
We are in touch with ReachDeck to resolve the issues identified above
Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs containing important patient safety information or about our services.
By 30th June 2024, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible documents or HTML pages. We have removed, or made accessible, 98 documents to date.
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.
Any new PDFs or other downloadable documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
An exception to this our annual reports, which must, by law, be laid before parliament in a printed version, and then appear unaltered.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We regularly review what we are doing in terms of providing better accessibility to our website. We are working through making all PDF documents accessible as a priority.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 20 July 2023. It was last reviewed on 12 August 2023.
This website was last tested on 25 May 2023 by Cube Creative using Axe Accessibility Tools.
