Accessibility statement for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust website

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

This website is run by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS 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.

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:

  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • Most PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some videos do not have captions
  • Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • Not all controls change appearance/clearly indicate when they are selected
  • Focus is sometimes obscured
  • Some pages do not contain a top-level heading
  • Not all form controls contrast sufficiently with their surroundings

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:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 7 days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, please call or email us for an accessible copy – https://www.sath.nhs.uk/about-us/contact-us/

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 Communications Team on sath.commsteam@nhs.net.

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 can provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our hospitals 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 https://www.sath.nhs.uk/about-us/contact-us/

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital 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.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  1. Some images and buttons do not have a label or 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 non-decorative images and buttons. (The WCAG criteria makes a distinction about non-text content that is “pure decoration” and “used only for visual formatting”, so long as it is implemented in a way that it can be ignored by assistive technology like screen readers.)

When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of non-decorative images meets accessibility standards.

  1. Some of our videos do not have accurate captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 (captions (pre-recorded)).

Most our videos are first uploaded to YouTube, which has a system of automatically captioning videos. Sometimes the captions do not accurately capture what the people in the videos are saying. We will remove / replace videos where there are no captions by March 2024.

  1. Sometimes the sequences in which content is presented are confusing. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 (meaningful sequence).

Clearer labelling will be added to pages including our events pages, news pages and jobs feed.

  1. The visual presentation of text and images of text does not always have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)).

This issue particularly (though not exclusively) applies to white text on coloured backgrounds on buttons and tiles. The contrast ratios will be improved by amending the coloured backgrounds.

  1. Some pages have images of text, and do not convey information through text itself. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.5 (images of text)

A small number of pages on the site feature images of text and do not include the same information as body text which can be read by a screen reader. Actual text will be added to make this clear.

  1. Not all of the site’s functions can be operated by using the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).

Specific issues include the site’s forms. Our forms will need to be rebuilt and hosted through third party software and embedded into our website. We plan to do this by March 2024.

  1. The purpose of some buttons and links is not clear from the text or the context in which it is used. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.4 (link purpose (in context)).

This affects the links and buttons on pages including our latest news pages and our jobs feed. These will be updated with either clear title text or better labelling.

We are actively working to address these issues as part of an ongoing programme to improve the accessibility of this website.

Disproportionate burden

PDFs and other documents

Where documents are no longer in active use, or no longer being updated, there is a high cost in terms of employee hours to convert. These documents are part of the public record, but no longer represent the current position, and interest is limited.

We always respond to requests for our publications in different formats on a case-by case basis, so accessible versions are available on demand, with a short lead-time. We consider that the costs of converting older documents where there is little evidence of demand would be a poor use of limited employee time and would represent a disproportionate burden on the organisation in terms of cost.

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.

Where PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services and hold information on how users can access our services, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages by March 2024.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

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

  • Work is continuing to remove those documents which aren’t needed as soon as possible. Where information is still required, we plan to republish it in HTML format.
  • There are some documents designed for printing. These include our annual reports. We’ll continue to offer these as PDFs together with a HTML page that includes a summary of the document.
  • We use online tools to perform a readability test and carry out basic accessibility checks when uploading new content to the website.
  • We regularly commission an independent accessibility audit on a sample of pages to highlight areas requiring improvement. Our aim is to conduct accessibility audits every year.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 September 2023. It was last reviewed on 8 December 2023.