Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to Hamdon Medical Centre.

This website is run by Symphony Healthcare Services. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • 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 (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

The majority of this website is fully accessible.

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

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • except when using tools such as High Contrast in Google Chrome, you cannot change the font colour
  • there may be some PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Publisher documents which haven’t been designed for accessibility
  • images, which contain text, may not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information
  • you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
  • content in tables, used to format text, may not be suitably formatted for screen readers
  • some of our online forms may be difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • some widgets, outside editing control, may fail permitted contrast ratios
  • some content is embedded in our website, such as maps and videos, and you cannot easily scale these on screen

 

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

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

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 7 days.

If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact’ page, call us on 01935822236 or email us via somicb.hamdonreception@nhs.net for directions.

 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

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, please contact us via phone on 01935822236 or email us on somicb.hamdonreception@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).

 

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Our practices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

To discuss with the surgery please call us on 01935822236 or email us at somccg.reception-hamdonmc@nhs.net.

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Symphony Healthcare Services 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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

 

Issues with technology

The vast majority of our website works correctly on any web technology.

How our site looks and works is based on HTML5, and we test for, and support, the following browsers:

You may experience unexpected behaviour in other browsers.

 

Keyboard Support

The desktop version of this website can be navigated by using a keyboard with the following browsers:

 

Non accessible content

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

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDF and Word documents are not able to comply with the requirements of the web accessibility standard.

See the Content Management section below for details how we intend to check PDF and other documents to ensure they meet WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criterions; 1.1.1 (Non-text Content), 1.4.1 (Use of Colour), 1.4.3 (Contrast – Minimum), 1.4.5 (Images of Text), 2.4.3 (Focus Order), 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels), 3.2.4 (Consistent Identification). This might exclude documents published before 23 September 2018, where they are not essential to providing our services.

Contrast Ratios not meeting requirements

Contrast Ratios, throughout the website, should meet WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum), however some widgets, outside Practice editing control, may fail permitted contrast ratios.

Tables used to format text

Some tables are used to format text however they do not always work well with screen readers. See the Content Management section below for details how we intend to check tables to ensure they meet WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.

News Ticker & Pop-Ups

The practice news ticker and pop-ups, which contain text, may not always work well with screen readers. See the Content Management section below for details how we intend to check tickers to ensure they meet WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criterion 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide.

 

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images, which contain text, may not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). See the Content Management section below for details how we intend to check images to ensure they are of an accessible standard.

 

In addition, the public may need the following methods to change the colour of the website to support accessibility:

  • you can change the browser setting for text and background colours and visited and unvisited links in Firefox and Internet Explorer
  • you can install a browser extension in Chrome to change colours, for example ‘High Contrast’, ‘Midnight Lizard’ or ‘Pro Visu Look’
  • you can change the appearance of your operating system, including the appearance of most software, via a system setting: macOS, iOS and Android let you invert the colours and change to grayscale, but Windows gives you many more options with which you can change the colours of lots of different elements
  • you can use third-party software: screen magnifiers often include the option to change colours as well, some literacy software can help you tint your screen, and then there is other software which allows you to do either or both
  • user style sheets (either via browser settings or a browser extension) might be quite technical to use, but services like userstyles.org and freestyler.ws make it easier and sometimes have good solutions for specific problems on specific websites
  • hardware monitor settings can be adjusted to change brightness, contrast, colour settings and other things
  • physical coloured overlays can be put on screens to give them a tint

 

Content Management

It should be noted that practice staff are able to add content to this website using a Content Management system. Whilst every effort is made to add WCAG 2.1 AA complaint content, this might not always be possible due to lack of website accessibility experience. Therefore it is possible some documents may not be accessible, links may be added that are not meaningful, new layout tables may not read properly using a screen reader, and there may be new images added which contain text. Our website is reviewed annually either by practice staff, our supplier, or by a third party. The testing body is noted in the How we tested this website section below.

 

Disproportionate burden

Interactive tools and transactions

 

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will assess this annually.

 

Content that is 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 are accessible to a screen reader.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we might have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. See the Content Management section above for details how we intend to check PDF documents.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to check and amend PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

 

Live Video

If we utilise live video streams, we do not plan to add captions because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

 

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 30/11/2021 by Bryony Finch, Corporate Business Manager (Symphony Healthcare Services).

We tested:

  • our main website platform, available at www.hamdonmc.co.uk

The test was carried out using:

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are actively looking to improve the accessibility on our website.

The improvements below have been identified on our current work schedule:

  • Identify and correct any text in images (Annually)
  • Identify and convert any essential pdf documents (Annually)
  • Identify and convert any essential non-pdf documents (Annually)
  • Identify and convert any tables used to format text that do not work successfully with a screen reader (Annually)

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 30/11/2021.

It was last reviewed on 30/11/2021.

Unless required beforehand, this statement will be reviewed by 30/11/2022.