Accessibility

This page was last updated 19 July 2023.

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

This website is run by Northumbria Healthcare 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
• access the website using a mobile or tablet

We’ve also tried to make the website text as easy as possible to understand.

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

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• Some PDF and Word documents are not fully accessible
• Some of our videos do not include transcripts / subtitles
• Some images feature information that is not accessible, eg, infographics

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email contactus@northumbria.nhs.uk

We will consider your request and get back to you within 10 working days.

We have provision in place to help D/deaf or hard of hearing people to get in touch. Find out more here.

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, email contactus@northumbria.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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Northumbria Healthcare 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-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• Some of our PDF, images and Microsoft Word documents do not meet the required accessibility standards. If you require a PDF or a Word document in an accessible format such as large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email contactus@northumbria.nhs.uk

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

We are planning to either fix these or replace 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’re not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Our website also features accessibility software, the Recite Me web accessibility and language toolbar, which can read out many PDFs on our website. For more details on this software, please see below.

• Some images feature information that is not accessible, eg, infographics. We are aware of these and have a list which we are working through with relevant services to produce an alternative that presents the information in an accessible way.

Disproportionate burden assessment

We've assessed that it would be a disproportionate burden to fix all documents published on the website since 23 September 2018. 

A number of these documents are rarely viewed, therefore they are unlikely to be negatively impacting users with disabilities or impairments. For this reason, we don't believe the cost of time, effort and resource to fix all the documents is justified.

We will focus on fixing those which are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Microsoft Word documents.

As of 21 July 2023, there were approximately 600 documents on our website published since 23 September 2018 (within scope of the accessibility regulations).

It's difficult to know how long it would take to make every document accessible without first reviewing each one.  

Potentially each document would require several hours of work to be recreated in a fully accessible version (estimated based on extensive experience of converting documents at between 2 and 30 hours per document, depending on length and complexity, plus any required sign-off, or subject matter expert involvement).

However, if we use a conservative estimate of two hours to review and fix each document within scope, fixing all 600 would take 160 working days (based on a 7.5-hour working day at Northumbria Healthcare).

We believe that:

• The resources and nature of our organisation mean that there are limited public resources available which must be managed appropriately and in the public interest to prioritise the delivery of essential services to the public
• The costs of fixing all of the documents on our website would be a substantial burden on us and the public resources we manage
• The benefit to users would be limited and their needs can be met in other ways
• Therefore, fixing all documents on our website would impose a disproportionate burden on us.

What we’re doing to improve our accessibility

We are aware that there are still some changes that need to be made to the website and we will look to do these over the coming months.

Where issues are flagged through our accessibility checks, they will be resolved in as timely a manner as possible. Some of these can be carried out by the team responsible for the website, while others require external support.

Our approach to carrying out accessibility checks

We will carry out regular checks of our website, which will include:

• testing using accessibility monitoring software, such as accessiBe, accessibilitychecker.org, and WAVE
• manual testing carried out by the team responsible for the website.

Teams will check samples of content, which may include

• the homepage
• content pages that are mostly text-based
• images, video and audio content
• interactive tools and transactions, like forms
• PDFs and other document types
• dynamic content like pop-up windows
• navigation pages, including their sitemap and pages with search functionality

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 25 May 2022. Last updated on 19 July 2023.