Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals, www.rlbuht.nhs.uk.

This website is run by Liverpool University 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 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.

This website was built to be as accessible as possible:

• Text can be resized through built in website tools or via browser resizing options
• Care has been taken to ensure colour combinations deliver a contrast that allows visitors to easily read information. The site has tools to implement these combinations whilst browsing. Modern browsers also enable custom user stylesheets to be applied
• ReadSpeaker technology allows RLBUHT visitors to listen to key page sections aloud. Site uses HTML5 semantic mark-up and therefore performs well when read by screen readers.

We know some parts of the website are not fully accessible:

• A selection of images are missing alternative text descriptions
• Certain pdf documents are not accessible.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording, braille or another language, please speak to the person who is looking after you whilst at your appointment or in hospital. They will arrange for the information to be provided to you. This will generally take up to four working days dependant on the format in which you want the information.

If you cannot view our hospital maps on our ‘Find Us’ (Aintree) or ‘Your visit’ (Royal and Broadgreen) pages call or email us for directions.

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: communications@liverpoolft.nhs.uk. Please disclose the relevant page and provide us with as much detail as possible to the problem.

The Trust will make reasonable adjustments to accommodate accessibility requirement on request including the provision of information in alternative formats.

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).

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.

If you require a BSL interpreter, please contact the number on your appointment or inpatient letter and we will arrange on for you.

Liverpool University 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.

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

Non-accessible content, non-compliance with the accessibility regulations and disproportionate burden

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

1. There are contrast errors on a small number of site-wide widgets. The feasibility of updating these widgets is currently underway.
2. There are a small number of editorial and technical malformed mark-ups - for example, image alternative text not being provided. These are being worked through methodically, with additional editor training provided where appropriate.

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. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

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.

This statement was prepared on 16/11/2020. It was last reviewed on 16/11/2020.

This website was last tested on 15/11/2020. The test was carried out by Agidea.

The approach has been to investigate a small representative selection of page types from the website using a manually run WCAG 2.1 compliant evaluation tool, and methodically resolve any issues. Issues causing the greatest impact have been prioritised.

We intend to work towards WCAG2.1 AA compliance – and where feasible AAA compliance – by incrementally resolving issues as the number of pages investigated increases.

In time, we hope to be in a position where WCAG 2.1 evaluations are regularly scheduled and include all pages.