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Accessibility

Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to all pages available on the domain www.ruh.nhs.uk This website is run by the Royal United 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:

  • 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.

View the site your way

There are a number of customisation options for your browser and device that could help you use this website and other websites more effectively.

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

Feedback and contact information

Please contact us if you have any accessibility query including:

  • if you are experiencing issues with accessing information or using the website
  • if you find an accessibility problem not listed on this statement
  • if you have positive feedback on the accessibility considerations made

When you contact us there is a process in place that will acknowledge your contact, tell you who is dealing with it and give you a timescale by which you can expect a reply.

Alternative formats

If you need information in an alternative format, such as braille, large print, audio or easy read, please contact the Patient Support and Complaints team:

How accessible this website is

A project is currently under way to redesign the RUH web site, and all current accessibility issues will be addressed as part of that process. We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible.

  • text will currently only zoom to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some video streams do not have captions
  • colour and contrast levels can only be changed using specialist plug-ins (eg. the Chrome High Contrast plug-in)

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 RUH Web Team on:

Complaints process

If you have reported a problem with our website or asked for an alternative format, but you are not happy with our response, you can use our complaints process at the RUH to register your difficulty. This helps us improve our processes.

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).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The Royal United 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 listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

  • PDF and word documents are not tagged and are not all available as HTML pages
  • Not all of our content reaches our target reading age of 12 years old. We are resolving this as content comes up through its review cycle

Third party content

Our website contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we endeavour to work with the third party to improve its accessibility. This may include:

  • links to non-RUH websites
  • content/functionality on our website
  • content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

This section covers issues that we need to fix and are working to do so.

Inaccessible PDFs and/or Word documents that read out on screen readers, and poor colour contrast that makes text difficult to read - especially for visually impaired people. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

When we publish new PDF or Word documents we'll make sure they are tagged to meet accessibility standards.

Videos do not have transcripts or captions - This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1, 1.2.2 and 1.2.3 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded).

Disproportionate burden

We've assessed the cost of fixing the issues with accessing information and it would be a disproportionate burden to change all PDF and Word documents added to the site since September 2018 to HTML pages or tag them. This will not be a disproportionate burden forever with all PDF and Word documents replaced within two years and old videos removed or subtitles and captions added.#

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 Word documents we publish from September 2020 will meet accessibility standards.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

A project is underway to redesign the RUH web site. Outstanding accessibility issues will be addressed as part of this project. We plan to improve accessibility on this website over the next two years. All PDF and Word documents will be tagged for accessibility and run through the Adobe Accessibility.

Any new content types will be reviewed for accessibility before implementation.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

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

This website was last tested in August 2023. The test was carried out by the RUH Web Team. We reviewed each PDF and Word document added to the site since September 2018 in order to draw conclusions on best approach and the roadmap to full accessibility.

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