Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to this website which is run by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

The content on our website is designed for everyone to find, read and understand. It is compatible with assistive technologies and developed to meet the accessibility standards outlined in this statement. We want as many people as possible to be able to use it.

For example, it means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300 per cent 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 have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand and there are a number of customisation options for your browser and device to help you use our site more effectively.

Feedback and contact information

Please contact us if you:

  • are experiencing issues with accessing information or using our website
  • find an accessibility problem not listed above
  • have positive feedback on the accessibility considerations we have made.

Email the Communications Team:  oxl-tr.communications@nhs.net

Complaints

If you have reported a problem to us but are not happy with the response, you can use our complaints process at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust to register your difficulty. This will help us to improve our processes.

Enforcement

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).

Accessibility compliance

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust is committed to making our website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Applications( (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

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

Non-accessible content

We formally test the accessibility of key user journeys that represent the breadth of content across our website on a regular basis against WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Some parts of the website may not work for everyone. Below are known issues that we either need to fix, cannot fix or do not need to fix right now. If you find something that does not work, please contact us.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

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

Insufficient alt text

Some images on our site contain text which cannot be read by assistive technology, such as screen readers.

Any relevant text is included in the image’s alt-text, which is visible to assistive technology.

Branded text such as logos, slogans or other marketing messages, may not be included in the alt-text if they are not relevant to what the image is conveying.

Images that do not contain sufficiently descriptive alt-text are not compliant with WCAG guideline 1.1.1, and WCAG guideline 1.3.3.

We correct insufficient alt-text over time as pages are reviewed.

PDFs and other documents

Accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to us providing our services.

For PDFs created after 2018 we believe there are potential issues within the accessibility of those documents as highlighted below. We are working to review the documents and resolve the below issues by  30 June 2025.

  • WCAG 2.4.2 Page Title
  • WCAG 3.1.1 Language of Page
  • WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Tables
  • WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content

 

Issue found as part of a recent accessibilty audit which are currently being fixed:

  • WCAG 1.4.5 Images of Text- Images of text cause problems for users who need to adjust how visual content like font size, spacing or colours are displayed. The image quality can reduce and become blurry when users increase page magnification. Therefore it is best to have an alternative version, for example HTML text nearby/underneath, if the image of text is needed.

  • All pages- 'we're kind, we're fair, we listen, we care' is an image of text.

  • All pages- 'Help in a crisis' and 'Improving lives' are images of text at the top of the webpage
    WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose

  • All pages- This still refers to the home icon in the menu along the top of the webpage
    WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast

  • Our services- 'show all' still does not have sufficient colour contrast when the mouse hovers over it. The background becomes paler blue with white text

  • Home- At 400% zoom, 'See more' now does not reflow to fit the webpage

  • All pages- WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast- at 200% zoom, within the hamburger menu and under each accordion menu, the white text is a smaller size and does not have sufficient colour contrast on the blue background

Content not within the scope of accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to us providing our services.

For PDFs created after 2018 we believe there are potential issues within the accessibility of those documents as highlighted below. We are working to review the documents and resolve the below issues by 30 June 2025.

  • WCAG 2.4.2 Page Title
  • WCAG 3.1.1 Language of Page
  • WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Tables
  • WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content

Live video

We do not add captions to live video streams because it is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Pre-recorded video

The regulations do not apply to pre-recorded videos published before 23 September 2020. We use You Tube and Vimeo to embed videos onto our webpages. We are not responsible for the accessibility of these platforms.

Our published videos have edited captions, subtitles and can be audibly described.

Third party content

Our website contains some third-party content which we do not have control over. We are not responsible for the accessibility of this content.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 July 2023. It was last reviewed on 24 August 2023.

This website was last tested on 24 August 2023. The test was carried out internally with the support of our website supplier, VerseOne.

Pages sampled were:

  • Pages common to many websites - for example, Home Page and Contact Us
  • Pages with variations in layout and functionality - for example, Our Board pages
  • Most visited pages - for example, Latest News
  • Selecting pages at random - for example, Our Services

 

We are kind, we are fair, we listen

we’re kind we’re fair we listen we care