This page explains how we ensure our NHS website and service sites are usable and accessible to all users. This applies to:
- Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Beside You
- Clover Street
- Discovery Orthotics
- East Sussex School Health and CITES
- Kent family (0 to 19 services)
- Kent Youth Health
- New Street Dental Practice
- Quality Improvement
- SHIFT.
We want to ensure that we make reasonable adjustments to enable our patients and service users to receive information in formats that they can understand and appropriate support to help them communicate. It is our duty under the Equality Act 2010.
Accessibility statement for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
This website and our service sites are run by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust. We want as many people as possible to be able to use these websites. For example, that means you should be able to:
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 or device settings
- zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using a keyboard or 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.
You can use our Recite Me accessibility toolbar to:
- read the website text aloud (including PDFs)
- download the text as an MP3 file to play it where and when it suits you
- change font sizes and colours
- customise background-colours
- translate text into more than 100 different languages
- access a fully integrated dictionary and thesaurus
If you find information on our site that you think should be clearer, please tell us by emailing kchft.comms@nhs.net. We will need to know the details of the page your were looking at; information you thought should be clearer and anything else you think would help us to improve this.
How accessible our websites are
We know some parts of websites aren’t fully accessible:
- most older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
- some videos don’t have captions
- you can’t modify the line height or spacing of text
- some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard.
Closed captions for video content
We host our videos on Vimeo or YouTube, who use auto-generated closed captions for people who ae deaf or have hearing loss.
Closed captions can be turned on/off by clicking on the icons shown in the video toolbars below.
Vimeo
YouTube
What to do if you can’t access parts of our websites
If you need information on our websites in a different format like translations, accessible PDF, large print, easy read, British Sign Language (BSL), audio recording or braille:
0800 030 4550
kentchft.PALS@nhs.net
We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 14 days.
Reporting accessibility problems with our websites
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our websites. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact our Communications Team at kchft.comms@nhs.net.
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
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust 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 website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 (WCAG) AA standard.
Our websites are partially compliant with the WCAG 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
Keyboard
- Some parts of our websites may be hard to work out what is selected or in focus. This doesn’t meet WCAG guideline 2.1.1.
We plan to have keyboard focus outlines and/or colour contrasts updated to meet AA standard by July 2024.
Pinch-to-zoom
- Some parts of our websites may not work on mobile when trying to pinch-to-zoom. This doesn’t meet WCAG guideline 1.4.4.
We plan to have enabled pinch-to-zoom to meet AA standard by July 2024.
Non-text content
- Some images on our websites may not have text alternatives. This doesn’t meet WCAG guideline 1.1.1.
We plan to have all alternative text updated to meet AA standard by July 2024.
Name, role, value
- Some input fields on our websites may not have set names, meaning they are hard for assistive technology to read. This doesn’t meet WCAG guideline 4.1.2.
We plan to have input field names updated for assistive technology to meet AA standard by July 2024.
Meaningful sequence
- Some parts of our websites do not define a read direction. This doesn’t meet WCAG guideline 1.3.2.
We plan to make sure content defines a default lang="en" dir="ltr" read direction to meet AA standard by July 2024.
Section headings
- Some parts of our websites do not have the correct order for headings. This doesn’t meet WCAG guideline 2.4.10.
We plan to make sure heading orders are updated to meet AA standard by July 2024.
Text contrast
- Some parts of our websites the text contrast might be hard to read. This doesn’t meet WCAG guideline 1.4.3.
We plan to have text contrast issues updated to minimum 4.5:1 to meet AA standard by July 2024.
For text used in visual designs only and are not essential to using or reading them, we do not plan to fix these instances across our websites.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services.
Older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, board papers.
We do not generally add new PDFs to our site. There are some exceptions:
- we add some PDFs as downloads of reports or publications
- our annual reports and other reports, which must, by law, be laid before parliament in a printed version, and then appear unaltered
- downloads intended for print purposes, such as posters.
Is there anything I can do to make PDF documents more accessible?
Useful information about ways to make Acrobat documents more accessible is provided on Adobe’s website.
Further information can be found on Adobe pages on accessibility.
Online maps
Maps embedded from digital mapping services such as Google Maps, and maps made available in formats such as PDF - are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations where they are used for non-navigational purposes. However, we will always attempt to provide as much related information as possible in text, for example, postcodes and directions.
Video content
We do not plan to add captions to existing pre-recorded video content that was published before the 23 September 2020. This content is exempt from the regulations. All new video content we produce will have appropriate captions, audio descriptions and transcripts as necessary.
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
Third party content
Some of the content hosted on our website or linked to by us is created by third parties. We have no control over the accessibility of these documents and encourage third parties we work with to make their documents as accessible as possible. If you need accessibility adjustments for a document that may be controlled by a third party, please contact us using the methods below.
Recite Me toolbar
We have digital inclusion software from Recite Me, on our website. This makes our content more accessible with reading and translation support*. This service is free for site users.
* The language translation service should only be used to translate general information on our website. As this is a Google translation tool, it is not intended to replace human or traditional translation methods. To ensure patient safety please continue to use our service providers to translate information relating to personal treatment and care.
Click on the light blue accessibility icon (located bottom right) on your screen to launch the support toolbar. Then click on any text to hear it read out loud.
Recite Me offers reading and translation support – helping you to access and understand our website better.
All the features are accessed from an easy-to-use toolbar.
One in ten people don’t speak English as their first language. Recite Me web accessibility technology quickly and easily translates all your web content into over 100 languages, including 35 text to speech voices.
15% of the world's population is neurodivergent. Recite Me assistive technology allows people to change the way a website looks. Users are able to customise the website's colour scheme as well as the text, font style, size, colour, and spacing.
774 million people in the world cannot read or write, and 10% of people have a learning disability, so reading content online can be a challenge for some people. To simplify use and support your website visitors, the Recite Me web accessibility toolbar provides five main tools; ruler, screen mask, magnifier, margins, and a dictionary.
Toolbar user guide
Toolbar FAQs
Interpreting and translation
We can provide communication and language support to help with your care.
If English is not your first language, we will book an interpreter for your appointment and send written information in your preferred language.
We offer:
- video, telephone and face-to-face interpreting
- British Sign Language interpreting and other support for the Deaf community
- translation of letters and leaflets
- Braille
- audio
- large print
- Easy Read.
If you want to make sure we know your preferred language, please contact the service you are seeing. Their details will be included on appointment letters or you can search for a service at www.kentcht.nhs.uk/our-services/.
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
If you contact the relevant service before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter and/or arrange appropriate accessibility needs.
For help or more details please speak to our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS):
0800 030 4550
Text 07899 903499
kentchft.PALS@nhs.net
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We plan to identify and fix issues on a continuous basis.
- We are identifying the right platform to continually support us with regularly scanning our websites to identify accessibility issues according to WCAG A, AA and AAA standards.
- We aim to have this in place by January 2024.
- We are working to identify content/documents and where information is still required, we plan to update, fix the document or republish it in HTML format.
- We are aware we have a number of other non-accessible documents such as board and council of governors papers, staff guidance and policies. We are currently working on fixing these documents and the work will be completed by end of December 2024.
- If you require one of these documents in an accessible format, please contact kentchft.PALS@nhs.net
- There are some documents designed for printing. This includes our Community Health magazine.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 20 December 2023. It was last reviewed on 20 December 2023.
Our websites were last tested on 20 December 2023 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard. The tests were carried out internally using an automated accessibility scanner.
A representative sample of pages of the website were tested along with a sample of the documents from each area of the website. Testing was composed of a mixture of manual, automated and assistive technology testing.