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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the University Hospital Southampton website located at https://www.uhs.nhs.uk/.

This website is run by University Hospital Southampton. 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.
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver (iOS) and Talkback (Android).

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand, but certain medical terms are required and we are working towards creating a glossary to help with some wording.

The following six links provide advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability:

  1. Windows 11 Accessibility Features | Microsoft
  2. Get started with accessibility features on Mac – Apple Support (UK)
  3. Get started with accessibility features on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)
  4. Get started with accessibility features on iPad – Apple Support (UK)
  5. Android accessibility overview - Google Accessibility Help
  6. Android Accessibility Help (google.com)

The following links provide advice on making your web browser easier to use if you have a disability:

The following links provide advice on making reading PDFs on a mobile device easier to use if you have a disability:

The following links provide help if you have low vision and need larger font sizes.

How accessible this website is

We know the following parts of the website are accessible when undertaking manual testing using NVDA:

  • Breadcrumb trails are provided on each page of the website and is compliant with WCAG Success Criteria (SC) 2.4.8 Location (AAA). The breadcrumb trails are also accessible using a screen reader but may also help those who have cognitive impairments and older adults.
  • Alternative text (alt-text) descriptions were used correctly for the user journeys manually tested with NVDA. This is compliant with WCAG SC 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A). For example, images/icons that supported links were described by the links and are therefore decorative images that do not require alt-text, these were correctly ignored by the screen reader.
  • Navigation through the user journeys to the required information for links using screen reader shortcut keys were accessible. For example, when navigating to the quick link for Cancel Your Appointment.

We know some parts of this website are not accessible when undertaking manual testing using NVDA:

General

  • Most older PDF documents from 23 September 2018 onwards are not accessible to screen reader software.
  • Not all video content has a transcript or audio description. Captions are provided on some video content but are shown on a semi-transparent background. This is something we are working on in our action plan.
  • A help page, glossary of terms and abbreviations is being developed. These are being created as part of our action plan.

Cancelling your appointment form

  • A preview of the form is not provided to check the content prior to submission and a notification once submission has been completed and successful is not provided to the screen reader.
  • Missing form field text highlighted in red maybe problematic for a person who is colour blind.

Find your consultant

  • The finder feature on the ‘find your consultant’ page does not, for example, provide a notification of success once either a letter is selected from the alphabetical list or when a search is entered into the search box and is submitted.

Southampton General Hospital

  • The PDF document Southampton General Hospital – C level floor plan, which is an essential document to services provided, is inaccessible to a screen reader user. Assistance for navigating the hospital is available at our reception or through our Patient Support Hub, contact details are contained further into this statement.

Find departments or services

  • The expandable lists are not divided into alphabetic groups with an initial capital letter as a heading.

Gastrointestinal medicine useful links

  • No transcript is provided for the YouTube videos provided.

Automated testing

We are regularly using automatic testing provided by ReachDeck Auditor to check for broken links and accessible language these are ongoing actions in our action plan. We also use Insytful, a tool provided by our Content Management System providers which also automatically scans our website for accessibility improvements.

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 two days with an update on how we are progressing with your request.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, you can use the Access Able guides to assist you and help you prepare for your journey to and around UHS.

Alternatively, our Patient Support Hub will be able to help and provide additional support to patients, carers and their families. Contact information can be found on the UHS website Patient Support Hub pages.

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 webmaster@uhs.nhs.uk .

We would be keen to hear useful and constructive feedback on how we can improve accessibility on our website. The webmaster@uhs.nhs.uk email is the best way to be in touch.

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 assistance to patients and visitors with a range of accessibility needs.

If you are a patient at one of our hospitals and need additional support, please telephone 0800 484 0135 or email patientsupporthub@uhs.nhs.uk For help preparing for your visit, arranging an interpreter, including British Sign language or accessing the hospital, more information is available on the UHS website additional support webpages.

Hearing loops are available in some areas of our sites. A full list is available on the UHS website accessible support section on the patients with hearing loss webpages.

If you are blind or severely visually impaired, we also have volunteers around the hospital to help guide you to your appointment.

Please ask on arrival at our reception where one of our friendly voluntary team members will be able to support you. Our voluntary team members are also trained and have experience with guiding those who are blind or have a severe visual impairment. You are welcome to bring your guide/assistance dog with you to your appointment as specified by the Equality Act 2010. If you need to use public facilities while in the hospital please speak to staff at our Patient Support Hub on how they will be able to look after your guide/assistance dog for you.

Patients attending UHS can also contact the Patient Support Hub prior to their visit to request a personalised Sunflower Lanyard. The cards are printed with your individual support needs, removing the need to repeat conversations whilst also encouraging staff to ask how they can help you.

Volunteers can be pre-booked via the Patient Support Hub to support wheelchair users or those needing a wheelchair to move around site.

Information on how to be in touch can be found on the contact us webpages on this website and the Patient Support Hub webpages on this website.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

University Hospital Southampton 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

We have broken down the non-compliance into six sub-sections.

General

  • Most older PDF documents from 23 September 2018 onwards are not accessible to screen reader software. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and relationships, 2.1.1. Keyboard. This is an issue we have identified in our action plan and we will provide further updates as to how we are achieving this.
  • When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of PDFs meets accessibility standards.
  • Not all video content has a transcript or audio description. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Pre-recorded) and 1.2.5 Audio Description (Pre-recorded). Captions are provided on some video content but are shown on a semi-transparent background. This is an issue we have identified in our action plan and we will provide further updates as to how we are achieving this.
  • When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of videos meets accessibility standards.
  • A help page and glossary of terms and abbreviations is being produced which is being built up in accordance with our action plan in order to meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.5 Help (AAA). We will provide further updates as to how we are achieving this.

Cancelling your appointment form

  • The error messages when filling in the form are not screen reader accessible. A preview of the form is not provided to check the content prior to submission and a notification once submission has been completed and successful is not provided to the screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 Error Identification (A). We plan to fix this through our website providers and will update our action plan accordingly. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of error identification meets accessibility standards.
  • Missing form field text highlighted in red maybe problematic for a person who is colour blind. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (A) and 1.4.1 Use of Color (A). This is on our action plan to fix by working with our website providers. We expect to have this complete by September 2023. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure content requiring a response for colour blind users meets accessibility standards. For example, by drawing attention to the input field requiring attention by outlining this with a rectangular box stating the error.

Find your consultant

  • The finder feature on the ‘find your consultant’ page does not, for example, provide a notification of success once either a letter is selected from the alphabetical list or when a search is entered into the search box and is submitted. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). This is a modification we need an external supplier to deliver so will provide an update when that is completed on our action plan. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure the outcome of an action meets accessibility standards.

Southampton General Hospital

  • The PDF document Southampton General Hospital – C level floor plan, which is an essential document to services provided, is inaccessible to a screen reader user. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships, 2.1.1. Keyboard. We have this an issue on our action plan document plan and will provide regular updates.

Gastrointestinal medicine useful links

  • No transcript is provided for the YouTube videos provided. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Pre-recorded) and 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded). This is an issue we plan to fix as part of our action plan as a review of video content that will be complete by the end of 2023. This specific video will have a transcript available by August 2023. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of videos meets accessibility standards.
  • All external links provided on the Useful Links page now open in a new browser tab. This issue we are investigating across the rest of the site as we know that by not opening in a new browser this fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2 On input (A). We plan to fix this as part of our review of external links by the end of 2023. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure when an external link is activated a new browser tab is opened with instructions prior to opening the tab being provided to meet accessibility standards.

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

PDFs and other documents

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

Southampton General Hospital – C level floor plan.pdf

Maps and way finding is an issue on the action plan and will be under constant review and updated regularly, we plan to either fix these or replace them with alternative formats as specified in the Equality Act 2010 by the end of 2023.

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.

We do not use live video on our website.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our accessibility roadmap shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website.

Accessibility action plan July 2023
Size: 43KBType: excel

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on July 12, 2023. It was last reviewed on July 12, 2023.

This website was last tested on the 28 and 29 June 2023 by undertaking a manual test using the NVDA screen reader. The test was carried out by Microlink.

This website was last tested using automated tools Reachdeck Auditor and Insytful on July 12, 2023.

We selected a representative sample of five user journeys for the UHS website that were manually tested against WCAG 2.1 success criteria using the NVDA screen reader. This included the use of the shortcut keys NVDA+A ( or + up/down arrow as required), Tab, arrow keys, H (1 – 6 inc. Shift), and NVDA + F7 (elements list) and other keys relevant to page content, for example F for form fields.

We also tested the accessibility of the path a user takes to get to the relevant information required. For example, the user journey:

Home > Cancel your appointment > Change or cancel your appointment > Submit form

Required the screen reader user to navigate to the cancel your appointment quick link on the home page. Each stage of the navigation was tested to reach the cancel your appointment form and then the accessibility of the cancellation form itself was tested.

Based on the findings of the representative sample our action plan covers how we are applying these findings to improvements on other aspects of the UHS website to ensure they are compliant.

You can read the full manual accessibility test report for NVDA.