Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement for Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust

This accessibility statement applies to Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust.

This website is run by Lincolnshire Community Health Services 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 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:

• The text will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
• You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• Most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• Live video streams do not have captions
• Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
• You cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
• There’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page

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 lhnt.lchsecomms@nhs.net
• Call 01522 309751

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us 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, please contact us to report this using the above details. 

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.

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

Lincolnshire Community Health Services 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 [insert one of the following: ‘the non-compliances’, ‘the exemptions’ or ‘the non-compliances and exemptions’] listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

We need to add a description to each page so that links provide more detail to the user.

We need to ensure that the text used for links adequately informs the user where the link will take them.

Disproportionate burden

We believe that fixing the accessibility problems with some content would be disproportionate due cost or capcity. However, past pdf documents which are not accessible can be made available in accessible formats upon request. 

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 possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping. 

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

Our forms are built and hosted through third party software and ‘skinned’ to look like our website.

We believe that fixing the above issues now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations on the current Content Management System. We will make another assessment when the Trust commissions the new website.

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. 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. Individual PDF documents which are not accessible can be made available in accessible formats upon request.

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.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

At Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust, creating an accessible service is a team effort. The team look at the top five pages on google analytics and regularly check these pages. The team refer to the Silktide monthly report which highlights any key issues and the team work with the website developers to resolve these issues.

We want our teams to make accessible services by:

• Considering accessibility at the start of their project, and throughout
• Making accessibility the whole team's responsibility
• Researching with disabled users
• Using a library of accessible components and patterns
• Carrying out regular accessibility audits and testing
• Designing and building to level AA of WCAG 2.1 – which is NHS Digital policy

We are making sure that accessibility issues highlighted in this statement are being prioritised and fixed. Measures include:

• Updating the most-watched videos on the website to AA standard
• All videos to be made AA standard when they are reviewed after 23 September 2020 
• A principle to move away from new content being produced in PDF
• Plans to remove or replace older PDFs with more accessible content
• Prioritising accessibility remedial work in all new development and improvement projects

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 1 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 18 May 2023.

This website was last tested in October 2021. The test was carried out by Web Usability.

A representative sample of pages were selected to be reviewed in full. These were agreed with the project manager at the start of the audit. The pages are:

• Homepage
• About us
• Our services (map)
• Policies (search)
• Your Health (accordions)
• Latest news
• Johnson Community Hospital
• Vacancies
• News article
• Referrals
• Understanding languages
• Children therapy services
• Contact us
• Terms and Conditions
• Accessibility statement
• Sitemap
• Sexual health homepage
• EATS Homepage
• Spalding GP Surgery Homepage
• PDF

In addition, Web Usability reviewed the site as a whole to identify unique functionality or sections with accessibility issues. Where relevant these have been included as examples in the following sections.

This website's accessibility will be reviewed on a regular basis. The most recent review took place in April 2023. We will update this accessibility statement with any relevant changes.