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Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust

This statement applies to content published on the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH), Sexual Health South West London and Sexual Health Hertfordshire websites.

These websites are run by CLCH. We want as many people as possible to be able to use these websites.

For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours and contrast levels
  • zoom in 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’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand

We have installed the Recite Me accessibility tool onto the CLCH website which enables visitors to view and use this website in the way that works best for them.

There is advice available online to help you make your device easier to use if you have a disability, including from the AbilityNet charity.

How accessible this website is

Some parts of the CLCH website are not fully accessible:

  • embedded content, such as maps
  • not all content can be operated through a keyboard or keyboard interface
  • the focus order of content
  • the headings and labels of content
  • labels that include text or images of text
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

Some parts of the Sexual Health South West London website are not fully accessible:

  • embedded maps

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 Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) team:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days. 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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 our communications team:

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance status

The CLCH and Sexual Health South West London websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

On the Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) website:

  • This website contains approximately 1500 documents, mainly in PDF format, most of which are not fully accessible to screen readers.
  • On the homepage, the "Welcome to CLCH" heading positioned on the carousel slides is assigned a heading level 3. There are headings like “Find services near you” and “Latest tweets” further down the page that are visually styled as less important, but programmatically marked as heading level 2. This partially fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 August 2024.
  • On the Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy page, there are 3 different styles used for headings at the same level. This partially fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 August 2024.
  • Applies to the Recite Me tool available on all pages. At 200% and 400% zoom, menu options get cut off. At 400%, when trying to close the application, a modal appears asking users whether they really want to close the application. The text content in this modal does not reflow and gets cut off. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.10 (reflow). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 August 2024.
  • On the Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy page, the end of the text under the "Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy" heading starting with "We help our patients to understand their [...]" gets cut off when custom text spacing is applied. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12 (text spacing). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 August 2024.
  • On the services page, there is a list of letters which can be used to navigate to alphabetically ordered services. The letters are not keyboard accessible. Underneath the set of letters there is a 'Show all services in a list' button. This button is also not keyboard accessible. This partially fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 August 2024.
  • We cannot remove selected 'areas' from the service search once added. The service search letters to 'search service by name' cannot be tabbed to. We cannot tab to the location map popups. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 December 2024.
  • The service search letters are not focusable, and once an area has been added you cannot tab to that area. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 (focus order). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 December 2024.
  • Pagination labels are pronounced only as numbers and the service 'select by letter' letters are not appropriately labelled. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6 (headings and labels). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update 31 December 2024
  • The service search 'search by letter' needs re-working. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3 (label in name). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 December 2024.
  • Applies to the Frank tool available on all pages. The Frank accessibility settings allows users to customise settings, for example, to apply different contrast settings. The components have been coded as toggle buttons, but the value (whether the toggle is on or off) is not being communicated to assistive technology. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role, value). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 August 2024.

On the Sexual Health South West London website:

  • We cannot apply a focus indicator to map markers in the multi-pin Google Map. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible). We are actively exploring a fix with our website provider and will provide an update by 31 December 2024.

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.

For example, we have a large library of referral forms in Word document format explaining how people can access our services. If you are having problems accessing a particular document, please let us know:

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

The Cabinet Office’s Government Digital Service carried out an audit of the CLCH website in April 2024. We have now fixed most of the accessibility issues identified via this audit. We are working with our third-party website supplier to fix these remaining issues and carry out a full and thorough audit of each of our websites against WCAG 2.2 requirements by 31 December 2024.

We are working to remove documents that are no longer needed or do not meet accessibility standards.

We continue to work with our third-party CMS supplier to understand whether further improvements or fixes can be made.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was first prepared on 17 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 26 July 2024. 

The CLCH website was last tested on 8 July 2020. The test was carried out by our third-party CMS supplier. All pages were tested. The website was last reviewed by our third-party CMS supplier in October 2022.

The Sexual Health South West London website was last tested on 8 September 2020. The test was carried out by our third-party CMS supplier. All pages were tested. The website was last reviewed by our third-party CMS supplier in October 2022.

The Sexual Health Hertfordshire website was last audited on 1 September 2020. The test was carried out by CLCH staff undertaking manual checks and we continue to review key pages and content.