Accessibility

Accessibility statement for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust

This website is run by Harrogate and District NHS 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 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.

How accessible this website is

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

• you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• live video streams do not have captions
• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
• there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘Hospital’ pages.

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

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

• email [email protected]
• call 01423 555499

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

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

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust 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 2.2 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

• Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by April 2027. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
• Some PDFs and documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content and 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. We are committed to using our resources to update this historical content over time, and plan to update all historical documents (with the exception of content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations) by April 2027. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
• We are unable to make our board papers accessible in their current format, but are actively researching new ways of presenting this information to support accessible options. Currently, board papers are uploaded to the website as PDF documents numbering hundreds of pages. These pages contain scanned images and large reports sourced from multiple authors and services. They are compiled and uploaded just before they are legally required to be publicly available and any delay due to making them accessible would risk a fine or a cancelled public meeting. The cost of converting these documents is significant and is not financially justifiable, which is why we are considering alternative accessible options.
• We are reviewing PDF documents that are essential for our services and aim to convert these to accessible resource pages or accessible alternatives before 2027. Where relevant, we are replacing any new PDFs or Word documents with HTML pages or an accessible PDF.

Disproportionate burden

We have carried out a disproportionate burden review on Microsoft Office files and PDF documents that are not essential to the provision of patient care, such as strategies, annual reports and board papers. Some documents are in less accessible formats, such as PDF. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

See our disproportionate burden review for Microsoft Office files and PDF documents.

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 aim to make sure any 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.

Pre-recorded video and audio

Pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020 is exempt

Third party content

Third party content that is under someone else’s control that the Trust did not pay for or develop, such as:

• • embedded Google maps
  • embedded social media feeds

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 October 2024. It was last reviewed on 11 June 2025.

Our website was tested by the Government Digital Service 17 February 2025. Any issues found in the audit were passed to our trusted agency to test and fix. These fixes were complete by 11 June 2025. We have reported back to the Government Digital Service who will re-test our site and provide an updated report.

This website was last tested on 10th March 2025 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. This test was carried out by Mixd,  our trusted agency. This audit was carried out to define any further issues with our site that were not included in the audit carried out by the Government Digital Service. The next test to be undertaken by our agency to ensure compliance will take place on Monday 16 June 2025.

As websites are composed of many pages, it is impossible to test every single page manually. Because of this a representative page sample approach is taken. All key pages and main page types have been reviewed.

These tests have been used to help us update our accessibility statement and ensure any issues are captured.

Further testing will also be done to ensure that newly published content is accessible.