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Accessibility

This website is run by University Hospital Southampton. 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

We know that the website text and content should be as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNetexternal link has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

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How accessible this website is

We know parts of this website are not fully accessible including:

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  • low contrasting colours between the foreground and background

  • PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

  • not all video content has captions

  • some of our images do not have alternative text

  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
     

University Hospital Southampton is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

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We're working towards meeting Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level AA for all pages but know we are not yet fully compliant.

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This website is currently in redesign and the new design will adhere to the regulations and address the issues identified above relating to design and content navigation. We have been putting our efforts into that and so believe it would place an unfair burden to make the current site compliant before the September 2020 deadline for new sites.

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We have undertaken our own content check of a sample of pages in-house using widely available accessibility checkers and know that we are failing to meet some of the standards as set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

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Although the new design will address those issues we know that some content will remain that is not compliant including older PDFs but we are working towards producing all new versions of our patient information in accessible PDF format and we will set out how we intend to do that when we republish our accessibility statement in line with our new design.

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What to do if you can't access parts of the current website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please:

We’ll consider your request and respond within two working days with an update on how we are progressing your request.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us for directions or use the Access Able guides to assist you and help you prepare for your journey to and around the UHS.

The Access Able guides can be found by clicking through on these words.external link

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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 would like to raise further accessibility requirements, contact webmaster@uhs.nhs.uk

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Enforcement

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)external link.

If you encounter any accessibility issues with this website, please let us know at webmaster@uhs.nhs.uk

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How to change the font size used on the website

This may be useful for you if you have low vision and need larger font sizes. Instructions on how to do this can be found here:

How to navigate this site using the keyboard

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.

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We don't use access keys. Research suggests that these can sometimes conflict with shortcut keys used by assistive technologies.

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