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Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Welsh Health Specialist Services Committee’s website:  https://whssc.nhs.wales

This website is run by the Welsh Health Specialist Services Committee. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

We have 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

Version 1, published 17/09/2020

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

  • Parts of some pages may not work well with Assistive Technologies such as screen readers
  • Some menus are not fully accessible
  • Some buttons and links do not have accessible descriptions
  • Some pages contain text that has poor colour contrast 
  • Some pages contain headings that are not logically ordered
  • Some pages are not fully usable with the keyboard
  • Some pages have an illogical focus order
  • Secondary menu items change order when an item is selected
  • Some forms have error messages or labels that are not clear
  • Some moving content cannot be paused or stopped

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 us via email in the first instance and we will pass your request onto the relevant team.  We will 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 are not meeting accessibility requirements, please use the contact page

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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us

Please use the contact form or contact us via post at the following address: Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee, Unit G1, Main Avenue, Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd, CF37 5YL

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Emergency Ambulance Services Committee 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 2.1 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

Version 1, published 17/09/2020

Whilst we endeavour to meet ‘WCAG 2.1 AA’ we currently have the following non-compliance issues:

  • Some menus, and parts of some pages are marked up in a way that may make them confusing when accessed using Assistive Technologies.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value Level A
     
  • An empty menu is present on some pages.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1 Parsing Level A, and WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value Level A
     
  • The button used to clear any text entered in the search box does not have an accessible label.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value Level A
     
  • The button/link used to switch language presents a different, less specific, label to Assistive Technologies than to visual users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions Level A
     
  • Some text does not have enough contrast with its background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) Level AA. 
     
  • Headings on some pages are not in a logical nested order. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships Level A
     
  • Some parts of some pages are not fully usable with the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard Level A
     
  • Some elements have an illogical focus order.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order Level A
     
  • Secondary menu items change order when an item is selected.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation Level AA
     
  • Some forms have error messages or labels that are not clear.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions Level A
     
  • Some carousels (displayed only on small screens or at high zoom levels) do not have a method to pause or stop their movement. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide Level A

Disproportionate burden

Whilst we will prioritise information to ensure it is digitally accessible wherever possible, we know there are some sections of our website of a corporate nature, which are not currently accessible as documents are were produced prior to this site going live. 

For these sections, we will identify where we know documents are non-compliant and provide contact details wherever possible.  As documentation is renewed in the future, we will ensure digital accessibility is considered.

Currently, these sections are listed as below: (and subject to change).

  • Board or committee papers
     
  • Performance reports which may contain complex reporting/statistical data
     
  • Policies, procedures and Frameworks produced
     
  • Publications which may have been professionally produced since September 2018 which would have to be fixed by a third party. 

Navigation and accessing information

  • There’s no way to skip the repeated content in the page header (for example, a ‘skip to main content’ option).
     
  • It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.
     
  • It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping.

Content 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. For example, we occasionally have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, patient information leaflets and forms published as Word documents. By December 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages or online forms.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services. We do not plan to fix any PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018, for example Board and Committee Papers, Health Board policies and procedure documentation or statutory documentation such as Annual Reports.  However, we will endeavour to make any new PDFs or Word documents accessible wherever possible.

We occasionally publish PDFs which contain ‘transcripts/scanned manuscripts or handwritten notes’ for example in FOI requests - these are outside of scope and will not be fixed.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live audio or video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.  However, we will always aim to provide subtitled versions of pre-recorded videos produced.

Accessibility Improvement

We currently do not have an accessibility roadmap, which shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website, however we plan to have a roadmap by December 2020.

Accessibility statement preparation

This statement was prepared in September 2020 and will be reviewed in January 2021.