This accessibility statement applies to all websites under the www.bfwh.nhs.uk domain. This includes:
- https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk
- https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/blueskies
- https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/onehr
- https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/careers
- https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/eteam
- https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/volunteers
- https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/education
All sites are built using instances of the WordPress content management application.
This website is run by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation 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 300% 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’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
older PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
some of our images do not have proper names or captions and ALT (alternative) text.
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:
email: bfwh.trustcommunications@nhs.net
call 01253 300000
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 days.
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: bfwh.trustcommunications@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’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 a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.
Some areas have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
You can contact our Patient Relations team for more information.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals 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 partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations:
- Some images have no alternative text, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information.
- Some elements have low contrast ratio, making it difficult for people with colour blindness and similar issues to distinguish text.
- Some links are images without alternative text, meaning that the image will be described but not where it links to.
- Some pages have incorrect Header structure making navigation more difficult for screen readers.
We are actively working on these issues and updating pages as we come across the errors described.
Disproportionate burden
There are 8258 items (at time of writing) in our media library, a high number of these are pictures and a majority of these are kept for historical purposes. We do not intend to visit every image to provide alternative text, only ones that are actively in use on the site.
Navigation and accessing information
There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).
It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.
It’s not always possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.
Interactive tools and transactions
All interactive forms and transactions should be usable with assistive technologies (e.g. screen reader, tabbing through content).
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
None.
PDFs and other documents
All our published PDF documents meet the accessibility standards. We do not use proprietary document formats (e.g. Word documents) as these limit access.
We may occasionally post information in other formats (e.g. as .csv files) where the information cannot be shared in another way. These are checked for accessibility.
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 other documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We regularly review what we are doing in terms of providing better accessibility to our websites. We are currently reviewing assistive technologies that will sit on our website and allow all users to easily access information, change contrasts, read aloud sections of the site (including PDF documents) without the need of other assistive technologies.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 12th October 2021. It was last reviewed on 12th October 2021.
This website was last tested on 12th October 2020. The test was carried out by Paul Fearnley, the current Web Services Manager for the Trust.
We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test:
We used online accessibility tools including WAVE (https://wave.webaim.org) to provide reports on a number of pages within our site:
- our home page;
- department pages under “our services” on the website;
- pages on our careers website;
- pages on our oneHR website;
- pages on our volunteers site.
We then used these reports to look at what the key issues are with the pages and to plan to go through each page within each site, analyse the page using the same tools and to make the required changes where possible. We use WordPress as the content management system for our sites, which means that some of the content on the pages is not editable / able to be corrected easily.
