Accessibility statement

How ESNEFT websites are organised

The East Suffolk and North Essex ‘website’ is made up of many separate websites and services, covering different areas of our work. Each website has its own accessibility statement, to ensure we can properly describe the accessibility for each site or service.

This accessibility statement covers the ESNEFT website at www.esneft.nhs.uk (Opens in a new window) and does not cover the wider family of ESNEFT websites.

Introduction

This website is run by East Suffolk and North Essex 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 using browser settings
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen using browser settings
  • 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
  • translate the website if English is not your first language

 

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

The My Computer My Way guide from AbilityNet is a step-by-step guide to help you make your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Translation

If you would like information on our website translated into another language, that isn’t available on using the website translator or if for example, you cannot read the information easily in English, you can request information in a different language from us. This includes British Sign Language, easy read or a foreign language.

Please contact us for advice. You can find more information on translations services by visiting our translation information page.

Recite Me

We have installed Recite Me accessibility tools onto this website to enable some improvements to the content. To find out how to use Recite Me, we have created a full user guide page (Opens in a new window) .

How accessible is this website?

This website has been developed to be as accessible as possible.

However, we know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible, including:

  • some older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some other digital documents formats aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • captions are available on some videos; however, they are auto generated by YouTube or Vimeo and may not be completely accurate
  • some videos have no captions or voiceover/alternative text
  • some content does not have enough contrast, so people with moderate visual impairments may struggle to read it
  • some content may be difficult to navigate using a screen reader
  • some links are not distinct enough and may be difficult for people with moderate visual impairments to read
  • some phone numbers are not linked

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible html, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us using the contact details at the end of this statement.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

Reporting accessibility problems within this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact us using the contact details at the end of this statement.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing 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

ESNEFT is committed to making its website accessible, under 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.

 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

A few PDF, Word and Excel documents published since September 2018 aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software but 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 or PDF documents. These are being reviewed and will start to be accessible by the end of 2023. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards by providing alternative html content as far as we are able.

A full audit of the website will be carried out where the below issues will be resolved:

  • some content may be difficult to navigate using a screen reader. We plan to fix this as soon as possible
  • some links are not distinct enough and may be difficult for people with moderate visual impairments to read. We plan to fix these as soon as possible
  • some phone numbers are not linked, making them inaccessible. We plan to fix this as soon as possible
  • some content does not have enough contrast, so people with moderate visual impairments may struggle to read it. We plan to fix these as soon as possible
  • some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. We plan to add text alternatives for all images as soon as possible. When we publish new content, we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards

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

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader as they have been designed for print.

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 don’t plan to fix any print-ready PDF leaflets/brochures on the website, which have been added to the website to supplement online content. Annual reports, strategy reports, board meeting minutes produced since 2018 we have assessed would cause a disproportionate burden to fix all documents which do not directly impact on patient services.

The majority of these documents are rarely viewed, therefore they are unlikely to be negatively impacting users with disabilities or impairments. For this reason, we don’t believe the cost of time, effort and resource to fix all the documents is justified.

We will focus on fixing the most-viewed documents on these sites (top 5%), and ensuring that new documents are accessible where they are required for essential services or specifically address the needs of, or are meant for, persons with disabilities.

Videos

A few of our older videos lack captions and do not meet accessibility standards. The accessibility regulations do not require us to add captions to videos produced before 23 September 2020 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new videos we publish will meet accessibility standards.

External links

This website may link to third-party, external websites or services that are not fully accessible.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We provide training to all content authors to ensure new content is accessible. We monitor this website daily and we aim to address any issues promptly. We will be reviewing this site regularly and updating this statement accordingly.

We are committed to increasing access to services for all our patients. The Trust has an AIS Champion whose role is to make our Trust compliant with the Accessible Information Standard. You can learn more about what the NHS are doing in order to be fully AIS compliant by watching the video below.

From June 2022 patients at Ipswich with learning disabilities or who are visually impaired will be able to read their letters from the Trust in large font and coloured paper according to their preference, or receive letters written in and Easy Read format. Learning from feedback on this initial stage, we will then roll this offer out across all our services in North Essex and East Suffolk. ESNEFT aim to be fully compliant by 2023. If you would like further information on this, or to provide feedback please contact PAL by emailing pals@esneft.nhs.uk

Watch a video on the NHS Accessible Information Standard. The video opens in a new window which takes you to YouTube where accessibility controls may not be supported.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 18 June 2020. It was last reviewed on 08 August 2023.

Every page of this website is scanned for WCAG 2.2 compliance issues using a third-party automated service on a weekly basis.

Contacting us

For any enquiries about this website, you can contact us:

  • for technical website enquiries: digitalteam@esneft.nhs.uk
  • for website content: 01206 747 474 and ask for the ‘Communications Team’
  • for complaints: complaints@esneft.nhs.uk
  • for any enquiries regarding translation services: 01206 747 474 and ask for ‘PALS’

 

British Sign Language users contact us using an online interpreter who will relay your conversation with an appropriate member of ESNEFT staff, and then sign back to you their response to your questions.

 

Access AbleAccessibility information from Access Able

We partner with Access Able (Opens in a new window) to provide information to support people to use our hospitals. Currently we have accessibility information mapped for Ipswich Hospital, (Opens in a new window) and Colchester Hospital. (Opens in a new window)

 

Learning Disabilities and Autism

To find out more information about our Specialist Nurse team and more information on our services, please go to the main Learning Disabilities and Autism page (Opens in a new window) .

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