Launch Recite Me assistive technology

We are sorry but our website is not supported on your browser.

Please switch to a supported browser to continue using www.sthk.nhs.uk. You can see a list of supported browsers below.

Formerly: St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust

Accessibility Statement

Blue bar used to divide page content

This accessibility statement is for the Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (MWL) website

The statement applies to content on the MWL website - https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/.

This website is run by the Communications Department at MWL. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate some of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (for example, ReciteMe)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. In areas, there may be medical terminology used.

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

Blue bar used to divide page content

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

  • many documents in PDF format are not accessible
  • some pages and document attachments are not written in plain English
  • some images do not have a text alternative that clearly describe the information or function represented by them
  • site accordions (drop downs) are not fully accessible via screen readers 
  • some heading elements may not be consistent

Blue bar used to divide page content

Feedback and contact information

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).

If you find any problems that are not listed on this page, or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Trust’s Communication Department by email to communications@sthk.nhs.uk.

Blue bar used to divide page content

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 on legislation.gov.uk (the "accessibility regulations").

If you contact us with a complaint and you are not happy with our response, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Blue bar used to divide page content

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

We are 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 the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Blue bar used to divide page content

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

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

1 - There is no visible focus around the menu items in the hamburger menu at 200% zoom or higher - WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible

2 - There is an issue in relation to the accordions because the list element has direct children that are not allowed: [role=tablist] - WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: <ul> and <ol> must only directly contain <li>, <script> or <template> elements. 

Screen readers tell users if a list is present and how many items are in the list. This helps users to know what they are reading and what to expect. It is important to use the correct semantic hierarchy for lists.

Ordered, unordered and description lists must contain semantically correct parent and child elements. When lists contain other elements or they are ordered incorrectly, screen readers are not able to read the lists accurately.

Images

Some images on this website contain text - WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5. or WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).

Some of the images on our site are complex diagrams where suitable alt text is not possible. By October 2024 we intend to have reviewed all of these images, and where possible will have converted them to accessible format, used a different visualisation method or added detailed description text to the page.

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs containing important patient safety information or about our services.

We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible documents or HTML pages.

Blue bar used to divide page content

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

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 other downloadable documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We regularly review what we are doing in terms of providing better accessibility to our website. We are working through making all PDF documents accessible as a priority.

We have introduced ReciteMe's screen reading software to our website. The Recite Me cloud-based assistive technology toolbar makes our website digitally inclusive by allowing visitors to customise our content so that they can consume it in ways that work best for them.

Blue bar used to divide page content

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 6 October 2023. It was last reviewed on 7 February 2024.

This website was last tested on 7th February 2024 by Cube Creative using Axe Accessibility Tools.