Accessibility

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Accessibility statement for www.research.uhb.nhs.uk

This accessibility statement applies to the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. The website is managed by the NHS Trust and is hosted by Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) and Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGEM CSU).

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website and we have designed it to be accessible. This means that you should be able to:

  • Change colours, contrast levels and fonts by using the browser functionality
  • zoom in up to 400% 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

We try to make the website text as simple as possible to understand.

If you have a disability, AbilityNet offers advice on making your device easier to use.

Our website’s accessibility performance

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • some older pdf documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some diagrams and/or infographics are not fully accessible
  • live video streams do not have captions
  • some online forms are not easy for screen readers to navigate, such as our Friends and Family Test form
  • some links and images are not self-explanatory to screen reader users
  • for links to websites or software which we do not own or manage, we cannot guarantee their accessibility.

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

Feedback and contact information

Contact the Trust Communications team if you have an accessibility query including:

  • if you have any problems accessing information or using this website
  • if you have any positive feedback about this website’s accessibility.

Email: communications@uhb.nhs.uk

We aim to respond in 5 working days.

Alternative Formats

We have designed the website content to be as accessible as possible.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact communications@uhb.nhs.uk. We will consider your request and get back to you within 10 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think that we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact: csu.digital@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 contact us with a complaint and you are not happy with our response, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation 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 fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.

Non-accessible content compliances:

  • Google Language Translator
    • Please note that not all text may be translated accurately or be translated at all. We are not responsible for incorrect or inaccurate translations.
  • PDFs
    • The structure of the content is not always available to assistive technology, which makes the content difficult to understand and navigate for users of screen readers (Info and relationships 1.3.1)
    • The reading order of the content is not always logical, which means some content does not make sense when read out by text-to-speech software (Meaningful sequence 1.3.2)
    • Images do not always have text alternatives, which means some content is not available when using text-to-speech software (Text alternatives 1.1.1).
  • Embedded YouTube videos
    • For Android users, Google recommends watching YouTube videos directly within the YouTube app where you will find further accessibility features.
    • For Apple users, Google recommends following the apple.com/accessibility guide for further information – https://www.apple.com/accessibility/.
  • Google Maps
    • Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language. (Text alternatives 1.1)
    • Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure. (Adaptable 1.3)
    • Make all functionality available from a keyboard. (Keyboard accessible 2.1).

Content which is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Whilst University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust strives to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website.

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs do not meet accessibility standards. 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. We do have plans to remove or replace some of the PDFs with more accessible content alternatives. Wherever possible, we avoid PDFs. Instead, we create content as structured web pages in HTML.

Videos

Some of our older videos do not meet accessibility standards because they do not have captions. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix videos published before 23 September 2020. We are actively working to add captions to the most popular older videos.

From external websites 

Some parts of this site link to or use content provided by other websites and we cannot guarantee that these resources are fully accessible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 25.10.2023 and was last reviewed on 22.11.2023.

Our website’s accessibility status is reviewed on a regular basis. This website was last tested by MLCSU on 26.10.2023.

We have tested the homepage, content pages and custom pages (searches, custom functionality) by checking the following:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 400% 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