Accessibility

Accessibility statement for SWB

SWB NHS Trust is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability, including disabled people, people with visual impairments and those with motor deficiencies and cognitive disabilities.

This website and that of its associated subdomains (such as the BMEC website – see here http://bmec.swbh.nhs.uk/ and associated website for Trust operated GP services  – go to https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/gp-services/ to see those websites) endeavours to conform to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 at the AA standard. These guidelines provide advice on making websites more user friendly for everyone.

This site has been built using code compliant with W3C standards for HTML and CSS and displays correctly in current browsers. By using standards-compliant HTML/CSS code, any future browsers will also display it correctly.

You may experience unexpected behaviour in other browsers outside mainstream use, although we use fully validated code which should work on any modern browser.

How you can use this website

On this website, you should be able to:

  • Zoom in up to 300% with text staying visible on the screen, and most images scaling without resolution loss.  Text size can be edited via the different sized letters as the top of the screen.
  • Navigate most of the website using a keyboard.
  • Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software.
  • Read most of the website using a screen reader, including the latest versions of JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver.
  • Read most of the website on devices without a screen, like a braille computer.
  • Use the website even if JavaScript is switched off.


We’ve made the website text as simple as possible to understand, however some of our content is by its nature technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means.

Google Translator

We implement a Google translator on all our websites to ensure information can be readily translated into a range of languages.

The translation has been performed by an online automated translation service and as a result may contain errors. Please use the translation as a rough guide only. SWB NHS Trust does not accept no liability for the accuracy of translations on this site or reliance upon information contained in those translations.

Listen to this site

This website is now speech-enabled, which means that you can download free software onto your personal computer and have the site read aloud to you. The software is called BrowseAloud, and is used on over 7,000+ websites in the UK and USA and is usable on smartphone, tablet, PC or Mac.

BrowseAloud is a suite of products that provides reading support on websites that reads website content out loud, highlighting each word as it is spoken in a high quality, human-sounding voice. BrowseAloud is particularly useful for those with print disabilities such as dyslexia or mild visual impairments and those with English as a second language.

Other features include:

  • Dual-Colour Highlighting
  • Text Magnification
  • Talking Dictionary
  • Talking Translator
  • MP3 Maker
  • Screen MaskingFor further help and assistance regarding this product please see their website.

Disability in general

If you have a disability then you can find guidance on how to make your device easier to use on AbilityNet.

If you have a disability and require more information about accessing our hospital sites themselves, you can do this via AccessAble.

AccessAble is an access hub that gives you information on areas across the Trust, such as opening times, accessible toilets and shop/restaurant locations, lift access, and anything else you might need for a visit to one of our hospital sites.

Click the icon below to access our AccessAble information:

AccessAble

How accessible is this website?

The majority of this website is fully accessible, we also are aware some parts of the website aren’t fully
accessible:

We have a large number of old publication documents which are in PDF format, and haven’t been designed for accessibility.

  • Some content is embedded in our website, such as maps and videos, and you cannot easily scale these on screen (but you can open a full screen version).
  • Some content is limited by the current version of the website including but not limited to functions critical to its ongoing use.

      Where our features are not accessible, we conduct a disproportionate burden assessment:

  • Our site contains a large number of PDFs created in previous years, especially relating to service or information publications. Where these are no longer being updated, we do not intend to recreate them in accessible versions as this would be a disproportionate burden.
  • Where these are being updated, information will be converted where possible to accessible-friendly formats. This will take place within the normal cycle of updates.


How to get information in an accessible format

If you have problems accessing information on this website, or would like any of our work in a different format like a more accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, or braille, please contact the Communications Team with details.

Communications Department
Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust,
Trinity House,
Sandwell Hospital,
Lyndon,
West Bromwich
B71 4HJ

Tel: +44 (0)121 507 5303
Email: swbh.comms@nhs.net

We’ll consider your request, and aim to get back to you within 7 working days.

Please do not contact the Communications Department with any appointment related questions, as we do not have any access to patient information. Instead please call the Contact Centre.


Other languages

If you would like the translation of site content into a language which is not available, please do get in touch with the Communications team so we can arrange this for you.

Reporting accessibility problems

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of the website. If you find any problems which aren’t listed on this page, or think that we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations then please email swbh.comms@nhs.net to let us know.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. The Trust will endeavour to meet your needs. However, should you not be happy with our response If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Sandwell and West Birmingham 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 website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Additional issues

Links

We are aware of the following issues within the links on our site:

  • Some link text doesn’t make sense when read on its own (for example ‘click here’).
  • On some pages there are multiple links with the same link text but different destinations on one page.
  • Many older PDF files contain broken links, internal and external to the Trust, which do not resolve – we do not intend to resolve these as it is a disproportionate burden for files which are no longer in active use. (See above)

We scan the site regularly for broken links, and look to fix them as soon as they are identified.  Updates are regularly made by the SWB’s Communications Team .

PDFs

PDFs are not able to comply with the requirements of the web accessibility standard, and we do not generally upload new PDFs. Where it is appropriate to create new PDFs, we use the PDF/A standard which is more accessible. 

As mentioned above, our site contains a large number of PDFs created in previous years, especially in our data and information publications.  

Where these are no longer being updated, we do not intend to recreate them in accessible versions as this would be a disproportionate burden. The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our current services.

Those PDFs and Word documents which are still in active and essential have been converted into accessible web formats, with other files that are active but non-essential to the service in question will be replaced by the Trust with updated versions in accessible formats as part of the normal cycle of department updates. Adaption of these outside of the cycle constitutes a disproportionate burden.

We do not generally add new PDFs to our site. There are some exceptions:

  • We add some PDFs as downloads of reports or publications, but where a web page version is also available.
  • Our annual reports, which must, by law, be laid before parliament in a printed version, and then appear unaltered.
  • Any directions and data provision notices which must, by law, include a signature in order to be valid.
  • Downloads intended for print purposes, such as posters and some forms to be sent back to the Trust via post or other means.

 Images/Videos

We strive to make all of our content accessible. We are aware of the following issues with images and video on our site:

  • Some of the images on our site are complex diagrams where suitable alt text is not possible. Alternatively some images are presented  within the website code framework as background items or other visual formats that present any alt text from being displayed.
  • Video content, in particular but not limited to that hosted on the Trust’s YouTube channel, uses automated closed captioning. While the situation with automated closed captioning continues to improve year on year we recognised that this remains often inaccurate. Where possible the Trust moves to include descriptive text in videos to help with accessibility.

 Images and videos

We strive to make all of our content accessible. We are aware of the following issues with images and video on our site:

  • Some of the images on our site are complex diagrams where suitable alt text is not possible. Alternatively some images are presented  within the website code framework as background items or other visual formats that present any alt text from being displayed.
  • Video content, in particular but not limited to that hosted on the Trust’s YouTube channel, uses automated closed captioning. While the situation with automated closed captioning continues to improve year on year we recognised that this remains often inaccurate. Where possible the Trust moves to include descriptive text in videos to help with accessibility.

Text and content

There are some issues with text and content which we are aware of:

Some of our page titles are long, causing a technical fail on descriptive titles for web pages which requires titles to be short. In most cases, this is related to legal or formal names for publications, or alternatively those of the department, service, treatment or illness the page is in relation to. As the title’s content is vital to the basic description of these pages we are not going to fix this, as the content is still understandable, and changing titles might cause compliance issues beyond those of accessibility.