Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust website – www.walsallhealthcare.nhs.uk

This website is run by Walsall Healthcare 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 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • 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
  • some PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
  • live video streams do not have captions
  • there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page
  • some links may not be accessed by a screen-reader, including some within the homepage carousel
  • some content may not reflow when viewed on mobile and zoomed in at 400%
  • drop-down menus on the side navigation may not be viewable when using a keyboard

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 our Patient Experience Team.

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

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us vis the details shown above for directions.

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, get 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 EASS (Equality Advisory and Support Service).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

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

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Walsall Healthcare 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, due to the exemptions listed below:

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

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

  • Some link names may not be accessible to a screen reader. This occurs in very limited circumstances. We feel it would be disproportionate burden to resolve this issue and are committed to resolving this during the next major redesign of our website. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will review this again in June 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
  • Some PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is committed to ensuring these are all accessibility checked and this process is underway. This will be reviewed in June 2024.
  • This website is designed to be mobile responsive, however some content may not reflow when viewed on mobile at 320 x 256 screen size and zoomed in at 400%. We feel it would be disproportionate burden to resolve this issue and are committed to resolving this during the next major redesign of our website. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will review this again in June 2024.
  • Drop-down menus on the side navigation may not be viewable when using keyboard. This is not an available feature of our website and we feel it would be disproportionate burden to resolve this issue and are committed to resolving this during the next major redesign of our website. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will review this again in June 2024.

Disproportionate burden

We have carried out a full disproportionate burden assessment. In summary:

Links

Some link names may not be accessible to a screen reader. This occurs in very limited circumstances such as within third party plugins e.g. our homepage carousel.  To resolve this would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations as it would require a replacement of the software we use to run our website at significant cost. We plan to resolve this issue during the next major review of our website, and we will review this again in June 2024.

Text reflow

Some content may not reflow when viewed on mobile at 320 x 256 screen size and zoomed in at 400%. This is not an available feature of our website and we feel it would be disproportionate burden to resolve this issue as it would require a replacement of the software we use to run our website at significant cost. We are committed to resolving this during the next major review of our website, and we will review this again in June 2024.

Navigation

Drop-down menus on the side navigation may not be viewable when using keyboard. This is not an available feature of our website and we feel it would be disproportionate burden to resolve this issue and are committed to resolving this during the next major redesign of our website. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will review this again in June 2024.

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, and forms published as Word documents.

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. For example, we do not plan to fix previous board papers from before this date.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.  Some fillable forms which need to be downloaded and interacted with will not be accessible until we move to a new digital solution in the future.

Live video

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

Third party content

Our website features content derived from external sources and we aim to ensure these are fully accessible. We do not however have control or responsibility for this externally hosted content. Examples includes our CQC rating panel, and social media feeds.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 2 October 2020 by Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit on behalf of Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. It was last reviewed on 24 November 2023 by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.