Accessibility

We aspire to make our services accessible for all. That's why we have a number of different options in place to support people to access our services.

This includes;

• AccessAble - AccessAble produces online accessibility guides to buildings, sites & venues across the UK – including many hospitals, shops, tourist attractions and universities. Find out more about AccessAble and view our online guides.
• Accessible Information Standard - The Standard states how we should ensure that patients/service users including, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss disability receive information in formats that they can understand (e.g. easy read*, braille**) and appropriate support to help them to communicate for example a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, deafblind manual interpreter or an advocate.
• Website accessiblity guidelines -  We're committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Please refer to our Accessibility Statement below for more information.
• Interpretation and Translation services - We will provide face to face interpreting, instant telephone interpreting, document translation; and British Sign Language interpreting for those first language is not English or who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss.
• Accessible information standard - If you require information in an alternative format, please get in touch so we can arrange this for you.

• We want to make sure that the language we use on the website is easy for everyone to understand. We aim to use no jargon or unnecessary language, just simple and useful information.

• We use Alternative Text (or Alt Text) on all of the images used on the website for screenreader users.

Accessibility 

Everyone should be able to access our services, including our websites. This accessibility statement applies to all websites managed by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. Including;

• Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust (www.hacw.nhs.uk)
• Starting Well Partnership (www.startingwellworcs.nhs.uk)
• Healthy Minds (www.healthyminds.whct.nhs.uk)
• Herefordshire and Worcestershire Wellbeing and Recovery College (www.hwwellbeingandrecoverycollege.org.uk)

The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and the NHS Accessible information standard help us make our services better for you. 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

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 this website?

We know some parts of our websites are not fully accessible:

• many of our older documents and policies are still in non-accessible PDF format.
• some of our videos do not have captions/subtitles/transcripts.
• we use auto-translation for our videos and animations which may misinterpret some instances of the voiceover. 
• some of our pages and forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard.
• some of our resources and materials have been produced outside of the organisation and we cannot guarantee their accessibility.
• some link text may not make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’).

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format such as an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please get in touch;

• Email: whcnhs.communications@nhs.net
• Write: Communications Team, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, Charles Hastings Way, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR5 1RJ
• Phone: 01905 681517

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. Contact us if you have an accessibility query including:

• Issues with accessing information or using this website
• An accessibility problem not listed on this statement
• Any positive feedback about this website’s accessibility

Please direct your feedback to

• Email: whcnhs.communications@nhs.net
• Write: Communications Team, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, Charles Hastings Way, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR5 1RJ
• Phone: 01905 681517

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 

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

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

• Browser compatibility

This site has been developed and tested in several desktop and mobile device internet browsers using Responsive Web Design techniques. This means that you should be able to comfortably view the site on either a computer screen, smartphone, or tablet. However, compatibility may be impacted if you are using an older device.

• Links

Some link text may not make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’). We're reviewing the links within our website to make sure they are updated to an accessible format.

• Videos and maps from external sites

Many of our videos are embedded from YouTube and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of subtitles or translations.

We use Google Maps which is not screen-reader accessible

Content that's not within the scope of accessibility regulations

• PDFs and other closed file formats

We know that not all PDFs are fully accessible to screen reader software. We are actively working to remove older PDFs from our website, where unavoidable, PDFs will be designed to ensure they are accessible. If you are having any problems accessing these documents please contact us using the details at the bottom of this page so we can provide this information in an alternative format.

PDFs may still be used in instances where the document or material has been designed for download and print, for example, printed leaflets or posters. 

All new content that is added to our websites is checked against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 prior to upload.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23rd September 2020. It was last reviewed on Friday 16th April 2021.

This website was last tested in November 2019. The test was carried out by VerseOne Technologies Ltd.

Note: In order to establish website compliance with WCAG 2.1 the Auditor uses specialist adaptive software and browser technologies for testing purposes; together with the inbuilt accessibility tools provided by VerseOne Technologies Ltd which have been incorporated within the website.

We tested our main website platform, available at www.hacw.nhs.uk