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Accessability Statement

Isle of Wight NHS website in its current form will be replaced in April 2024 by a new site that will be fully WCAG 2.1 complaint.

Isle of Wight 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 accessibility statement applies to https://www.iow.nhs.uk

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website and we currently include ReciteMe, a web accessibility toolbar that provides a host of functionality including:

  • A hover to speak function
  • A translation tool
  • Text to speech tool
  • Text magnifier

How accessible is this website?

We know that sections of this website are not fully accessible, including:

  • Some parts of our website are difficult to read when a user adjusts the text to 200% its current text size.
  • Changes being needed to address colour contrast issues, to ensure users are able to perceive content on the page.
  • Some PDF documents not being fully accessible to screen reader software.
  • Not all page functionality being available to use by keyboard
  • Images and multimedia requiring Alt and Aria tags to support screen readers.

 

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, please email: iownt.comms@nhs.net

We’ll consider the request and respond in a timely manner.

 

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 and Engagement Team on: iownt.comms@nhs.net

Please provide a brief summary of the problem you are facing and the webpage or service you are trying to access.

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Isle of Wight NHS 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-compliance listed below:

Non-accessible content

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

1. Some images do not have a text alternative, or do have a text alternative that could be improved. This means people using a screen reader won’t be able to access descriptions on some of our images or might be confused by the descriptions we do have. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content

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

2. Our videos are missing accessible text. This can make it difficult for people using assistive technology to identify them as videos. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content

In future, when we publish new videos we will make sure they are easily identified by accessible text.

3. Our search field, on our ‘Search’ page does not have its label programmatically associated to it. This can make it difficult for a person who uses a screen reader to understand what they should input into the field. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content, 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

When we publish new content we’ll make sure our forms are designed and coded so they meet accessibility standards.

4. There are titles missing from embedded videos and a google map on our website. This can make it difficult for a person who uses a screen reader to understand what is being presented to them. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

 When we publish new, embedded content we will make sure it has the required accessibility markup to meet accessibility standards.

5. There are instructive images/diagrams on our website that are reasonably complex and which a text alternative cannot describe effectively. This can mean screen reader users may miss out on important information that is being presented. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content.

If we publish new complex images or diagrams we’ll make sure there is an accessible alternative required.

6. There is a video-only video on our ‘Patient Advice and Liaison Services’ page that has no audio or transcript available. This can mean blind users or users with low vision won’t be able to access any of the video content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)

 If we publish new multimedia in the future we will make sure it meets accessibility standards.

7. There are a number of videos such as the one featured on our ‘Maternity Services’ page that has no captions available. This can mean someone who is deaf or has hearing difficulties won’t have access to the content being said on screen as well as any background noises or music that gives further context to the video. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)

 If we publish new multimedia in the future we will make sure it meets accessibility standards.

8. There are tables presented on our website that are for presentation purposes and don’t hold tabular data but are not marked-up appropriately for accessibility. When tables haven’t been marked up correctly for accessibility it can make it difficult for a person who uses a screen reader to understand what is being presented. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships

When we publish new content we’ll make sure our tables are designed and coded so they meet accessibility standards.

9. Some pages have skipped heading levels. This can make it difficult for people using a screen reader to navigate around a page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships

When we publish new content we’ll make sure to structure our web pages so they meet accessibility standards

10. Some text links on our website are not easy to distinguish amongst surrounding body copy. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 Use of Colour

We plan to adjust the colour of these text links to meet the required contrast.

11. Some text on our website does not have sufficient contrast against the background. This can make it difficult to read for people with low vision or visual impairments. This fails WCAG 2.0 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum).

 We plan to adjust the colour of our text or backgrounds to ensure there is a sufficient contrast ratio between the two.

12. Some parts of our website are difficult to read when a user adjusts the text to 200% its current text size. Some text overlays other text and some becomes cut off. This can make it difficult for users with low vision or visual impairments who need to scale content in order to read it. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 Resize Text.

 We plan to fix this to ensure users can read and access all content with text adjusted to 200%.

13.There are a couple of images on our website that would be more appropriate as HTML text. Because text in images cannot be read by a screen reader the information in these images could be missed by screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text

We plan to fix this issue to ensure text is used in place of images of text when publishing future content.

14. Not all page functionality is available using the keyboard. The carousel on our home page cannot be paused using the keyboard alone. We also have access keys on our website. These could potentially conflict with assistive technology. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard

We plan to fix these issue to ensure keyboard users are able to access and interact with all content on our website.

15. Our website currently does not contain landmarks or have a skip link that allows users to navigate easily to the main content. This can make navigating through our website more time consuming for keyboard users and users of assistive technology. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

We plan to fix this issue to ensure keyboard users and users of assistive technology are able to navigate our website easier.

16. Some of our text links are not easy understood without further context. This can make navigating our website difficult for keyboard users where the purpose of a link is not clear. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose

When we publish new content we’ll make sure the purpose of text links we include are clear.

17. There is no focus indicator on our website as keyboard users tab through content. This can make it difficult for sighted keyboard users to recognize their location on a page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7

We plan to fix this issue to ensure the focus indicator is visible for all interactive elements on our website.

 

PDF Accessibility

Some of the PDFs accessible via our website are not currently meeting accessibility requirements.

 Any new PDF documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

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