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This accessibility statement applies to the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board’s website:  https://cavuhb.nhs.wales.

This website is run by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. 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

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
  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • many of the PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • not all recorded videos do have captions 
  • live video streams do not have captions
  • some images include text and do not have a corresponding alt tag

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 the communications team at news@wales.nhs.uk 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 the shortest possible time frame.

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 contact the communications team at news@wales.nhs.uk. 

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

If you require further support, please contact the Equality team at equityand.inclusion@wales.nhs.uk, or get in touch via post, to:

Equality team
Woodland House
Maes y Coed Road
Cardiff
CF14 4HH

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board 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

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

  • WCAG 1.4.13 - Content on Hover or focus
    On some pages including the main menu, receiving and then removing pointer hover or keyboard focus triggers additional content to become visible and then hidden. This fails WCAG 1.4.13 - Content on Hover or focus.

  • At 200% zoom, the keyboard focus is not visible after tabbing through the dropdown menu. This is due to the keyboard tabbing through all of the dropdown options, whilst it is closed. This fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible.

  • On some pages and documents, the page title is missing within the settings of PDF documents. This fails WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled.

  • The navigation menu on some pages along the top of the webpage is not accessible. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. 

  • 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

  • Some pages include images without a text alternative. This fails ‘WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1. Non-text Content’. 

  • Some images of text are being used to convey information, where text could be used to achieve this. This fails ‘WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text Level AA’ 

Disproportionate burden

Whilst we will prioritise patient 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 and have been produced since September 2018. 

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. 


PDF documents (WCAG 2.4.2 Page titled)

Providing descriptions in PDF documents would ensure that everyone can follow and understand the information presented. This includes access for users with blindness, motor impairments, hearing impairments, visual impairments, cognitive disorders, age-related impairments and more.

Assessment

We consider that converting older documents where there is little evidence of demand would represent a disproportionate burden on the organisation in terms of time, resources and cost. 
 
We have taken into consideration that our existing website accessibility statement signposts to those who need information, including accessible PDF documents, to contact the communications team in the first instance who will pass the request onto the relevant team, where accessible resources are available on request. 
 
We have added guidance about creating and uploading accessible PDF documents to our existing website training guides that cover accessibility that are available to staff.

We have enabled an approval process so we can monitor these documents before they are published to monitor accessibility. 

We plan to fix existing issues by July 2024.

Alt Text on Images (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1. Non-text Content)

Alternative text (Alt Text) is a HTML Alt attribute that helps to describe an image to users who are unable to see them. It is used by accessibility tools such as screen readers to help anyone who may have difficulties when browsing the website.

Assessment

We have added alt tags with text to images to the majority of primary and secondary pages. 
 
We have prioritised adding alt text and descriptions on webpages with key information for public safety including our contact us page. 
 
We have included accessibility guidance about adding captions and alt text to our website training guides that are available to staff, and we have enabled an approval process so we can monitor these documents before they are published to monitor accessibility. 

We plan to fix existing issues by July 2024.

View our full disproportionate burden statement.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility requirements 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.

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 13th September 2023. 

The website was last reviewed on 12th September 2023.

This website was previously tested in December 2019. The test was carried out by the Digital Accessibility Centre in Bridgend. This website was last tested on 13th September 2023. 

 

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