Accessibility

On this page:

www.odt.nhs.uk is run by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). It is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of users.

The text should be clear and simple to understand.

You should be able to:

  • zoom in without problems
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

How accessible this website is

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our websites.

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

We have conducted an audit of our websites to determine which parts are not yet fully accessible. This has identified the need for several improvements which are listed in the non-accessible content section of this page.

We are currently working to resolve these issues, largely by replacing our content management system (CMS). We hope to have this in operation by 31 December 2024.

Request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format please get in touch and tell us:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address
  • the format you need (for example: audio CD, braille, BSL or large print, accessible PDF)

Report accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting the accessibility requirements, please contact us and let us know, so that we can put it right.

Contacting us

To request information in an alternative format, report accessibility problems or to get further advice please contact us:

  • by email
  • by letter to BD Customer Services, NHS Blood and Transplant, Charcot Road, Colindale, London, NW9 5BG
  • by phone on 0300 123 23 23

To use Text Relay dial 18001 0300 1232323.

To use text chat please SMS 07860 034343.

Information about call charges

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you are not happy with our response, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

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’).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

NHS Blood and Transplant is committed to making our websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed in the non-accessible content section of this page.

Non-accessible content

The content that is not accessible is outlined in this section with details of:

  • how it fails the success criteria
  • planned date for when issues will be fixed.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

We are currently working to resolve these issues, largely by replacing our CMS. We hope to have this in operation by 31 December 2024.

  • Some images do not have appropriate alt text.
  • Some components/links have colour contrast issues so that text is not easily readable.
  • Some links/labels are not descriptive enough.
  • Some components have focus or content expand issues.
  • Some forms do not have appropriate descriptive labels.
  • Heading structure on some pages is not in a logical nested order. Some components have a fixed header size which does not allow for content to be put in a logical hierarchy.
  • Some non-HTML documents do not indicate download sizes or file types in the link text.
  • Some PDF documents do not meet the necessary accessibility requirements (titles, headings, tables, reading order, images and links).
  • There are no landmarks present on the website.
  • There is a hovering issue on navigation links.
  • The skip to content link does not function correctly on certain pages.
  • Some videos do not provide captions or a transcript
  • Some tables do not have the appropriate semantic HTML structure to enable screen reader users to understand the content.
  • Some components are not accessible with a keyboard.
  • Certain pages do not conform to HTML standards.
  • Certain pages have incorrect Aria attributes.
  • There are contrast issues on our cookies disclaimer.
  • There are contrast issues in the search text (Your search here) field.
  • There are contrast issues with keyboard focus for the breadcrumb trail.
  • There are contrast issues with highlighted text.

Disproportionate burden

We are currently replacing our CMS and have therefore paused audits until it has been implemented.

We have contracted Digital Accessibility Centre to carry out audits once the CMS is in place and this site has been moved across.

We hope to have the new CMS in operation by 31 December 2024, and to resume auditing early 2025. We will review these dates every 3 months until the new CMS is in place.

In the meantime, we will conduct monthly reviews against WCAG 2.2 of selected pages on this website using Silktide.

 

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

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.

Some videos have audio description issues, these are exempt as they were published before 23 September 2020.

Accessibility of NHS Blood and Transplant services

Each NHSBT service has its own accessibility page, with details of how accessible the service is, how to report problems and how to request information in an alternative format. You can access these pages from the footer of each website.

How we tested this website

This website initially was tested by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA in April 2020, with a year 2 audit completed in September 2021.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test.

We also conduct monthly reviews against WCAG 2.2 of selected pages on this website using Silktide.

Once we have moved this site over to our new CMS, the Digital Accessibility Centre will carry out further audits on the site.

We hope to have the new CMS in operation by 31 December 2024, and to resume auditing early 2025. We will review these dates every 3 months until the new CMS is in place.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 May 2020. It was last updated on 30 January 2024.