Accessibility Statement

The Northern Health and Social Care Trust is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to www.northerntrust.hscni.net.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliance of issues listed below.

Non-accessible content

We have listed below the sections, content and functions not yet compliant with the accessibility regulations under the relevant technical specifications.

WCAG 1.3.1 Info and relationships

• Lack of headings on the homepage, for example “A-Z of Services”, “Antrim Area Hospital”, “Causeway Hospital” and “Mental Health Contacts” and on the cards with grey background.
• Accordion headings are not marked up as such on all pages that feature the accordion component, including: Accessibility, Accessibility Feedback, Contact, Maternity Services, Antrim Area Hospital and Wards and Departments page.
• There is inconsistent heading presentation on the Self-Referral Form for Maternity Care in Antrim Area Hospital page.
• Tables have been used for layout purposes within the Self-Referral Form for Maternity Care in Antrim Area Hospital page.
• Visual group labels are not associated to form fields in the Service user feedback form and Self-referral form for maternity care in the Antrim Area hospital page.
• There is inconsistent use of heading levels on the Latest News page.

WCAG 1.3.5 Identify input purpose

• There is no use of the autocomplete attribute on Service user feedback form and Self-referral form for maternity care in Antrim Area hospital page.

WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum)

• Pagination has low contrast on Search results: pages, for example, ‘Hospital’ page.
• Light blue links have low contrast on Maternity Services and Antrim Area Hospital pages.

WCAG 1.4.4 Resize text

• ReachDeck: There is limited functionality available at zoom levels on all pages.

WCAG 1.4.13 Content on hover or focus

• Content is not dismissible without moving focus on all pages

WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard

Accordion toggle cannot be activated by keyboard users. This applies to the following pages:

• Accessibility Statement
• Accessibility Statement Contact Form
• Contact
• Service User Feedback Form
• Antrim Area Hospital
• Wards and Departments

WCAG 1.4.12 Text Spacing

• Navigation content gets cut off when custom text spacing is used on all pages
• Text content gets cut off when using custom text spacing on the home page.

WCAG 1.4.13 Content on hover or focus

• Content is not dismissible without moving focus on all pages
• Submenu content not dismissible without moving hover or focus on all pages, apart from the Search Results page.

WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard

Accordion toggle cannot be activated by keyboard users.  This applies to the following pages:

• Accessibility Statement
• Accessibility Statement Contact Form
• Contact
• Service User Feedback Form
• Antrim Area Hospital
• Wards and Departments

WCAG 2.4.3 Focus order

• Focus is not contained in flyout on all pages, apart from the Search Results page.
• Focus is not contained in the collapsed accordion menu on all pages, apart from the Search Results page.

WCAG 2.4.7 Focus visible

• Keyboard focus disappears on pages, apart from the Search Results page.

WCAG 2.5.3 Label in name

• There is a mismatch between the visual and accessible name on Service User Feedback Form and Self-Referral Form for Maternity Care in Antrim Area Hospital page.

WCAG 4.1.2 Name, role, value

• ReachDeck states are not communicated on all

Accordion states are not communicated on pages and the accordion has no role on the following pages:

• Accessibility Statement
• Accessibility Statement Contact Form
• Contact
• Service User Feedback Form
• Antrim Area Hospital
• Wards and Departments
• The date picker month and year lack an accessible name on Self-Referral Form for Maternity Care in Antrim Area Hospital page.

Other issues:

• Keyboard issues including issues with Safari
• Focus indicator and keyboard navigation

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This website was tested between 29 November and 11 December 2023 against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

Testing was carried out by the Cabinet Office Digital Services Team as part of a UK-wide audit which used a sampling approach and was limited to a fixed time period.

Different tests were completed to check against WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria.

Following the testing and evaluation, the Northern Trust accessibility statement was reviewed on 15 May 2024 and updated on 21 May 2024.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

The Northern Trust will aim to address all of the issues outlined above through the development of a new website.

We hope to complete this piece of work by end of 2025.

Feedback and contact information

If you wish to notify the Northern Trust of any compliance failures and to request information, please contact our Corporate Communications Department by email: corporate.communications@northerntrust.hscni.net.

If you require information in a different format, for example, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact our Equality Team, email equality.unit@northerntrust.hscni.net or phone 028 2766 1377.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’) in Northern Ireland.

If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI).