Accessibility statement

We are aware of some issues that may affect the accessibility of some parts of our website:  

• most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
• Most of our PDF documents are accessible to screen reader software. If you come across a non-accessible PDF of information you need, please contact communications@emas.nhs.uk to request an accessible version

If you need information on this website in a different format, email communications@emas.nhs.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to as soon as possible.

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 email communications@emas.nhs.uk or use the methods on our contact us page.

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).

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

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

Find out how to contact us

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances and exemptions’ listed below.

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

PDFs

Most of our PDFs comply with WCAG 2.2 to Level A and AA. Please see the disproportionate burden section below for more information. 

However, if you find you are having problems with any of our PDFs please email communications@emas.nhs.uk or use the methods on our contact us page, and we will respond to your request.  

Disproportionate burden

There are a number of issues with our vacancies page that may affect the accessibility of the page. These include:

• Images have meaningless alt text which might be confusing the screen reader users. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 (Text Alternative).
• The page is missing heading elements. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships)
• The search results are not announced so screen reader users will be unaware that their search has been completed. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.3 (Status Message).

This page is provided by a third party and skinned to look like our website.

We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the above issues and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. This is because we do not have direct access to the page and are reliant on the third-party organisation, which is used by the NHS nationally, to make the fixes.

There are a number of issues across the website that may affect the accessibility of some pages.

These include: 

• Some older PDFs and Trust Board documents published in PDF format may not comply with WCAG 2.2 to Level A and AA which may make them difficult for some of our users to access. For example: Because new Trust Board documents are published monthly or every other month, and comprise hundreds of pages, editing each to be WCAG 2.2 AA compliant is a disproportionate burden. Anyone who requires a more accessible version of any document can contact us.
  • Graphs and images do not have descriptive alt text so are inaccessible to screen reader users. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 (Text Alternative)
  • They currently do use the correct heading structure, which makes it difficult for screen reader users to navigate the document. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info & Relationships)
  • They have no bookmarks which can make it difficult for screen reader users to discern the structure of the document. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways)

People looking at our accessibility information made up 0.07% of our total web traffic between April 24- April 25.

Visits to our Board papers page represented 0.33% of our total web traffic in that same time frame. For the 2024-25 archived papers, which contain 202 documents, this page was visited 1,776 times – or approximately 9 views per document uploaded.

In the past year we received no requests for accessible formats of documentation on our website. This option is signposted in multiple places with a range of contact methods available.

A number of our regular papers are produced by exports of content from data systems. This generates graphs and tables that do not meet accessibility standards, but are essential for the needs of the Board, but are not essential to our direct service delivery to patients or members of the public. It would not be practical or affordable to make these papers fully accessible, given the total views of the papers, and the cost involved in making them accessible post-production, we find this to be a disproportionate burden.

We are committed to continually improving our approach to accessibility, including introducing Trust-wide guidance in relation to accessibility requirements and production of documentation in more accessible formats. This organisational behaviour change takes time to implement, but we are committed to doing this through our Accessible Information Standards action plan for 25-26, and we will keep this under regular review.

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^rd  September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Time-based media

Videos published on the site before 23^rd September 2020 are exempt from the government accessibility regulations so do not have audio description or a text alternative.

Any new videos will be published to meet accessibility standards.

Maps

The accessibility regulations do not require us to provide an alternative to our maps as long as our address is available in an accessible format.