Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust website.

This website is run by Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust. We want as many people as possible to be able use our website and are committed to making our website accessible. This 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 text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical and is sometimes aimed at medical professionals — we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

While we strive for full compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA, we know that some parts of our website are not fully accessible:

  • Our PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software. We are actively working on a way to provide this information in an accessible format.
  • Some images do not have good alternative text.
  • The NHS Friends and Family Test feedback website we link to (rate my NHS) is not fully accessible:
    • It does not have sufficient colour contrast
    • You cannot zoom to 400 per cent without text in the accessibility bar spilling of the screen
    • There is no alternative text on the site’s logo
    • Screen readers may have trouble identifying the language used on the page, and therefore difficulty reading the text.

Feedback and contact information

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

Email: rsch.communications@nhs.net  

Telephone: 01483 571 122 ex 6641

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

Email: rsch.communications@nhs.net 

Telephone: 01483 571 122 ex 6641

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

Royal Surrey 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:

1. PDF documents that have been published since September 2018 that are not compliant to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. For example, they may not be structured so they're accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). We are working to provide information contained within our PDFs in an accessible format (HTML page) by June 2025. From this time, when we publish new pdfs we will also publish the information on an accessible HTML page. Our 600+ Patient Information Leaflets are PDF documents, reviewed at least every three years. For this reason, it could take up to three years for all our PDFs to be available in an accessible format.

2. Images on pages do not always have suitable alternative text and some have incomplete text. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 A success criterion (non-text content). We plan to review and update alternative text for all images by December 2025. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

3. Our interactive map has some elements that are too close together (this fails WCAG 2.2 AA 2.5.8). It also contains links with the same text but different destinations (this fails WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.4). We are working with our supplier to correct these by June 2025.

4. On our site map, within the cancer A-Z directory, there are a number of links that use the same link text but have different destinations. This does not meet the WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.4 criteria. We are reviewing our structure of page titles and will amend this by July 2025.

5. Our current vacancies page contains an embedded feed from a third party supplier, which has missing anchors, so it fails WCAG 2.0 A 2.4.1. The job search bar on this page is missing a fieldset legend, failing WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1. We are in conversation with our supplier about how to fix these issues, and are yet to be advised on a date this can be done by. We will update this page as soon as we have more information on this.

6. Within our site, we link to a partner website, Rate My NHS, for our friends and family test. On this site, the links to our departments (for example A&E) do not have sufficient text contrast (failing WCAG 2.0 AA 1.4.3), the logo at the top of the page is missing alt text (failing WCAG 2.0 A 1.1.1) and the page language is not specified for a screen reader (failing WCAG 2.0 A 3.1.1). At 400% zoom, once expanded, some elements within the accessibility toolbar are no longer available for users (failing WCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.10). We are in conversation with the third party supplier about this, and have been advised that Rate My NHS is striving for WCAG 2.2 AA compliance by March 2026.

7. Some of our forms do not have valid label IDs for fragments, failing WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1, or identify their purpose programmatically, meaning that browsers cannot help users fill in the forms, failing WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1. Our website provider is working on these issues, which they will fix by May 2025.

8. Our governors’ portal log in box is missing fieldset legends, failing WCAG 2.0 A 1.3.1. The interactive components are also not far enough apart from each other, failing WCAG 2.2 AA 2.5.8. Our website provider is working on this issue, which will be fixed by May 2025.

9. Some of our search bars with radio buttons are not grouped within the same fieldset, failing WAG 2.0 A 1.3.1. Our website provider is working on this issue, which will be fixed by May 2025.

10. Our Patient Information Leaflet A-Z search contains links that cannot be read by a screen reader, failing WCAG 2.0 A 4.1.2. Our website provider is working on this issue, which will be fixed by June 2025.

Content that is 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. For example, we do not plan to fix historical governance documents, such as board meeting notes and agendas.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 3 April 2025. It was last reviewed on 10 April 2025.

This website was last tested on 10 April against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.

The test was carried out by VerseOne, the third party company that hosts our website. We have also acquired software from Silktide to constantly monitor our site for compliance and the platform is monitored by our in-house communications team.