Accessibility

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is committed to improving your experience of this website and providing access to as many visitors as possible. Read more in our Accessibility Statement.

ReachDeckTM

We have added speech, reading and translation support to our website with ReachDeckTM

Use the orange icon displaying headphones to start ReachDeckTM . If you do not see this icon please clear the cache memory by forcing a refresh in your browser. This can be done by pressing Ctrl & F5 buttons simultaneously on your keyboard (depending on your browser).

ReachDeckTM helps the millions of people who struggle to access and understand information online. Adding ReachDeckTM to our website is reflective of our commitment to accessibility and inclusion. We want to ensure that everyone can access our information online, regardless of ability. ReachDeckTM helps us to achieve this.

Our website can be translated into 99 languages and read aloud in 40 of the most commonly spoken languages in the world. You can convert any of our web content into an audio file and listen to it offline. You can also block or remove distractions from the page allowing you to focus on the most important parts.

Translate this Page

Use the orange headphones icon (top right) and then select the Translation icon to change the language that the page is displayed in.

Text resizing and page magnification

Some visitors may find it necessary to increase or decrease the size of the text on our website. There are controls in your web browser which will modify the text size. Most browsers allow you to resize text or change the magnification by holding down CTRL and + to increase size and CTRL and – to decrease size. CTRL and 0 resets the size back to normal. Mac users should replace CTRL with the Command key.

AccessAble directions and location guides

We have worked with AccessAble to produce a series of accessibility guides for our hospitals.

These guides allow patients, visitors and carers with a disability to plan their visit, identify potential barriers and understand what support is on offer.

To view these guides, visit the AccessAble website.

Problems using our website?

If you are having difficulty using our website, please contact us giving as much information as possible about the nature of the problem.

Accessibility statement for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

This accessibility statement applies to the website www.leedsth.nhs.uk. It does not refer to any other services on the nhs.uk domain.

This website is run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. 

For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using 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 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:

  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some PDFs and documents are not fully accessible, for example missing text alternatives and missing document structure
  • some videos do not have captions and audio descriptions

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:

We’ll look into your request and get back to you in 7 days.

If you cannot view the map on any of our hospital ‘how to find us’ pages, please call or email our Patient Advice and Liaison Service for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

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 contact us: 

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Any patient attending the hospital can request an interpreter. If you do require an interpreter please contact your clinical team, bearing in mind that it is not appropriate for family members to interpret for you.

Telephone, video and face to face interpreting is available, as well as British Sign Language (BSL). Please contact us before your visit so that we can arrange this. 

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS 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. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below does not comply with accessibility regulations:

  • Captions and audio descriptions are not provided for all videos. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Pre-recorded) and 1.2.3 (Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) and 1.2.5 (Audio Description (Prerecorded). We plan to review and update this by December 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of links meets accessibility standards.
  • Some PDFs and documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content and 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. We are committed to using our resources to update this historical content over time, and plan to update all historical documents (with the exception of content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations) by April 2027. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
  • We offer clear points of contact on this page for visitors having difficulty using our website or to request information in different formats, such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille.
  • We are unable to make our board papers accessible in their current format but are actively researching new ways of presenting this information to support accessible options. Currently, board papers are uploaded to the website as PDF documents numbering hundreds of pages. These pages contain scanned images and large reports sourced from multiple authors and services. They are compiled and uploaded just before they are legally required to be publicly available and any delay due to making them accessible would risk a fine or a cancelled public meeting. The cost of converting these documents is significant and is not financially justifiable, which is why we are considering alternative accessible options. Until this is implemented, please contact our Trust Board & Membership Administrator if you would like to request this information in an accessible format.

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

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word 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. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 12 March 2024. It was last reviewed on 29 October 2024.

This website was last tested on 8 March 2024. The test was carried out by Mixd.

We have chosen to test 10 pages initially due to them using significantly different page templates within the website’s content management system.

Accessibility training is continuing to be provided for content editors to ensure both currently and newly published content is accessible.

Further testing will also be done to ensure that newly published content is accessible.

  • Page last reviewed: