This accessibility statement applies to www.ashfordstpeters.nhs.uk (it can also be reached via www.asph.nhs.uk or www.ashfordstpeters.org).
This website is run by Ashford and St Peter's 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 200% 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:
- Older PDF documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software. We regularly replace active content such as patient leaflets. However, historic materials (such as annual reports) may have difficulties with newer products.
- Some images may be missing alternative text information. Due to the amount of content, we have tried to include this on the majority of images and will continue to improve the pages. These will be included on all future content as standard.
- Videos are hosted on our YouTube channel and this has the option for additional captioning, In recent years we have added subtitles to our main content. However, specialised content for a limited audience will rely on captioning and this may not be completed accurate.
- We use PHP for online forms and you should be able to use the TAB key to move between fields.
- We primarily use the ReciteMe software for testing accessibility on this site. We cannot guarantee that other products will work in the same way. However, we try to follow best practice in this area.
- We try to support all browsers and these may have additional accessibility options. We cannot ensure the compatibility of older or future versions.
- Accessibility features on the operating system of the user are supported in terms of the base code. We do not have the facility to test each platform.
Exemptions
The following content is exempt from the regulations. We shall try to improve all existing digital materials so that they meet the current guidance.
- pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
- live audio and video
- heritage collections like scanned manuscripts
- PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018
- maps
- third party content that's under someone else's control
- content on intranets or extranets published before 23 September 2019 (unless revised)
- archived websites
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, please contact our Patient Experience Team / PALS:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Telephone: 01932 723553
Please note that more complex requests may take a longer time to complete (e.g. translation services).
If you have an impairment or sensory loss and have specific communication needs please let our operator know.
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:
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 Deaf and hard of hearing or have a speech impediment - simply prefix all numbers with 18001.
Click here for the main hospital contact list.
Due to infection control measures, we do not encourage visitors unless to see patients. Please see our visiting information for the current advice. Our PALS team can also provide assistance.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Ashford and St Peter's 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:
- Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
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 our Trust policies and leaflets in these formats.
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. For example, we do not plan to fix historic annual reports.
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.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
The Trust has a cross team group led by our Chief Nurse to focus on accessibility with regard to patient information. Whilst we have taken many steps in this area, we do appreciate that we can do more.
An example is the integration of ReciteMe within this website and the promotion of a style guide for patient literature. Another example is the introduction of video content and easy-read guidance.
We shall be improving the content, offline and online, in the future.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 11th September 2020. It was last reviewed on 14th September 2020.
This website was last tested on 11th September 2020. The test was carried out by Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
We have used the ReciteMe software to test the most popular pages on the site as well as the WAVE tool. Following the tests, we have made additions to the code to improve accessibility. We shall continue to test and improve the pages in the future.
