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Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Bedfordshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

This accessibility statement applies to www.bedfordshirehospitals.nhs.uk

This website is run by Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The content on this website is designed for everyone to find, read, and understand. It is compatible with assistive technologies and developed to meet the accessibility standards outlined in this statement. 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.

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:

When you contact us, there is a process in place that will acknowledge your query and give you a timescale by which you can expect a reply.

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 we are not meeting accessibility requirements, you can use our complaints process to register your difficulty. This helps us improve our processes.

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).

TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS WEBSITE’S ACCESSIBILITY

Bedfordshire Hospitals 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.

Colour Contrast

Currently there is insufficient colour contrast on the Bedford Hospital and Luton and Dunstable University Hospital specific tabs. This is not complaint with WCAG Guideline 1.4.3.

We are working on improving these colours so that they meet AA guidelines. We do offer an option for users to change to a black and white only site when they first press tab.

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 referral 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.

Any new PDFs or Word 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.

THIRD PARTY CONTENT

Our website contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content. This may include:

  • links to non-BHFT websites
  • content hosted on other websites, such as social media sites.

PREPARATION OF THIS ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT

This statement was prepared on 24 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 9 October 2020.

This website was last tested on 8 October 2020. The test was carried out by Siteimprove.com.

We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience.

Continued improvements
We are always looking at ways to improve how we provide information and meet communication needs. If you would like to contact us, provide feedback on Accessible Information or if you encounter any accessibility issues with this website please let us know.

Increasing your text size
If you find it hard to read this you can increase the text size by pressing the Ctrl and + keys together. Stop pressing the buttons when the text is large enough.

To return the text to the default size press Ctrl and 0 keys together.

Keyboard navigation
You can use your arrow keys to scroll up or down the page. You can use your tab key to move between links, and press return or enter to select one. To go back to the previous page, use the backspace key.

Changing the colours
If you use magnification technology you may want to change the site colours, as white can give an uncomfortable glare. To do this, simply change the preferences in your browser:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer – go to the Tools menu, select Internet Options, select Colours at the bottom of the General tab and make changes to text and background colours in the Colours panel.
  • Mozilla Firefox – go to Tools, select Options, select Colours in the middle of the Content tab and make changes to text and background colours in the Colours panel.

Please note that we cannot guarantee the accessibility of third party websites, documents and multimedia content that we may link to.