Accessibility

Accessibility describes whether a website can be used by people of all abilities and disabilities, for example, the elderly, partially sighted or hard of hearing.

The BBC have produced a website dedicated to improving accessibility online, it is called 'My web my way'.

Visit My Web my way

Accessibility statement for www.healthinnovationwessex.org.uk

This accessibility statement applies to healthinnovationwessex.org.uk. This website is run by Wessex Academic Health Science Network.

We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability.

This site has been built using code compliant, as far as possible within the constraints of our content management system, with W3C standards for HTML and CSS. The site displays correctly in current browsers and using standards compliant HTML/CSS code means any future browsers will also display it correctly.

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
  • navigate our responsive website using a smartphone or tablet.

We’ve also made the website content as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability, for example:

You can change text size using your browser.

In Internet Explorer, go to ‘view‘ > ‘text size‘. Select the text size you require.

In Google Chrome, go to ‘customize‘ > ‘zoom‘ and use the options to select the text size you require.

In Firefox, go to ‘view‘ > ‘text size‘. You can increase or decrease the text size as required.

How accessible this website is

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

  • when you change the size of the browser window, some of our images don’t resize accordingly
  • some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • some of our older videos aren’t captioned – we can provide a transcript on request
  • there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘Contact us’ page.

Many older documents have accessibility issues, such as the use of images to present text. You can request this information in a different format using the ‘Feedback and contact information’ section below.

Feedback and contact information

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, our communications team would be grateful to hear from you.

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

Email enquiries@hiwessex.net

Call 023 8202 0840

We’ll get back to you in within 3 working days to find out more about what you need and how we can help.

Visiting us: If you can’t view the map on our ‘Contact us’ page, please call us on 023 8202 0840 or email us at enquiries@hiwessex.net for travel directions.

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 can provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

If you are visiting our offices, please let us know in advance if you need us to arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

You can call us on 023 8202 0840 or email us at enquiries@hiwessex.net.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Wessex Academic Health Science Network (Health Innovation Wessex) 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 the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non accessible content

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

Documents on the website

Some of our PDF and Word documents published within our Resources sections before September 2019 are not currently accessible to screen reader software. We will update these on an ongoing basis with priority given to the most popular and/or prominent resources.

Fillable forms

We do have digital forms on our website but in some instances our forms need to be downloaded for our users to share across their organisations and then email to Health Innovation Wessex (or other organisations within the AHSN Network). These fillable forms are not accessible to screen readers. If you are unable to use one of our fillable forms, please contact enquiries@hiwessex.net.

Documents produced by other organisations

Some of our forms and guideline documents are produced by stakeholder organisations. We will update our website with the accessible versions as they become available from our partners.

Video content

Some of our video content is not captioned or doesn’t have an accessible version. We are working with our providers of audiovisual resources to prioritise accessible content.

If you find a Health Innovation Wessex video resource which doesn’t meet your access needs and you would like to request it in an alternative format, please contact the communications team by emailing enquiries@hiwessex.net or telephone the Health Innovation Wessex office on 023 8202 0840.

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

PDFs and other 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.

We are reviewing our content to ensure that 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

We are working to improve accessibility on this website. We are updating our staff guidance and are liaising with our third-party suppliers to ensure that our digital resources meet accessibility standards.

We are adding alternative text to all images on our website.

We are reviewing content added to the website since 23 September 2019 (apart from some downloadable forms) for accessibility compliance.

We are undertaking an audit and programme of work to make our resources compliant by converting them to accessible digital documents, starting with the most prominent and/or popular.

It is important to us that this website is accessible to everyone. If you have any difficulty using the Health Innovation Wessex website, please contact us.