(Time to read: 5 minutes)

This year the UK is implementing the EU Directive on the accessibility of public sector websites and mobile apps.

While this won’t necessarily impact GP practice websites directly, there’s a likelihood that, just as GDPR brought into sharp focus the management of data, this will make site accessibility something of a talking point. And it could very well become the expected norm that all sites will be accessible.

The Directive requires organisations to ensure their websites and mobile apps are more accessible by making them “perceivable, operable, understandable and robust”, to the extent that doing so would not impose a disproportionate burden. This means following a set of principles and techniques when building, designing, maintaining and updating websites and apps to ensure people can use them, especially people with disabilities.

If there are areas of inaccessible content, the organisation responsible will have to explain the way in which the content is not accessible and the reason for it. They will also have to provide accessible alternatives where appropriate.

What this means for practices

While the new Directive mentioned above will provide a talking point, it’s worth noting that accessible information is also one of CQC’s Equality Objectives 2017-19 – and the Equality Act 2010 already applies to practices. Within this, reasonable adjustments for disabled people must be made. This means that interpreting and providing written information in alternative formats such as large print on request are likely to be legal requirements for GP practices.

NHS England introduced the The Accessible Information Standard (AIS) to help clarify what is reasonable under the Equality Act. It aims to make sure people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss receive information that they can easily read or understand and get support so they can communicate effectively with health and social care services. It covers patients, their parents and carers.

Since 31 July 2016, providers of any NHS funded care must, by law:

• Identify: ask people if they have any information or communication needs, and find out how to meet their needs.
• Record those needs clearly and in a consistent way.
• Flag their file or notes so it is clear that they have information or communication needs and how to meet those needs.
• Share people’s information and communication needs with other providers of NHS and adult social care, when they have consent or permission to do so.
• Meet needs: take steps to make sure people receive information which they can access and understand and receive communication support if they need it.

The CQC will look at how services meet the AIS as part of its inspections – it is included in the new health assessment framework under key line of enquiry R1, “How do people receive personalised care that is responsive to their needs?”.

Practice websites

Interestingly, the accessibility of health and social care websites is out of scope of the Accessible Information Standard. However, the Standard remains relevant in circumstances where a health or social care professional would usually refer a patient or service user (or their carer or parent) to a website for information.

In these instances, it will be the duty of the professional – or their employing organisation – to verify that the website is accessible to the individual and, if it is not, to provide or make the information available in another way. For example, if a GP would usually direct a patient newly-diagnosed with Diabetes to information on the Practice’s website about Diabetes, he or she would need to check with the patient that they are able to use the website for this purpose. If, because the website is inaccessible to them as a result of their disability, they are not, the GP will need to provide the information in an alternative format, for example as a paper copy, via email or on audio CD.

It’s therefore advisable to review, and if necessary, take steps to improve the accessibility of websites.

Practical steps

With the above in mind, what practical steps can practices take to boost website accessibility? Here are some top tips:

Keep it simple: Keep your website as easy to use as possible. This includes using a simple menu/navigation structure that ideally means the majority of your pages can be reached within three clicks.

Don’t over-design: Pages should all follow a consistent layout to aid navigation and background colours or overlaying text onto images should be avoided, as this can make reading the text difficult.

Fonts: Easy to read fonts – Arial or Tahoma – are ideal and if a point needs emphasising, use bold or larger text, rather than italics or underlining. Text should be a minimum size of 12pt. Bullets and number can be a good tool in breaking up big blocks of text, which helps patients with learning difficulties.

ALT Text: Alternative (ALT) text should always be used on photos and graphics and should describe the image – for example, if you have a line-up of practice nurses, list them as “Photo of practice nurses Mick (left), Joan (middle) and John (right) smiling”.

Links: Avoid lots of ‘Click Here’ links, which make it unclear what the link does or where it will take you without reading the text around it. Instead, all links on a page should be labelled appropriately to help people using access technology such as screen readers and magnification software.

Forms and captchas: If you use forms, ensure they are simple and only require one field entry per line and that labels are named appropriately, and where edit fields have a limited number of characters or are compulsory, ensure that this is stated. If using Captchas, where info has to be entered to ensure interaction is with a human, make sure these are accessible and include an ‘audible’ audio option.

Focus on in-demand services: If you have information about specific services for people with disabilities, start your accessibility drive by focusing on these areas. It makes sense, after all.

Test with users: Test your website out with people who use different technologies – only they fully appreciate the needs.

Future success

Diversity and inclusion is already a huge talking point – and with the new EU Directve on website accessibility coming soon – it’s not going to go away. The simple steps outlined above can make a world of difference to disabled patients too.

Finally, we leave you with an additional source of further information about website accessibility – head along to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) page – http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility

What measures have you taken to boost accessibility of your services? Whether online or offline, we would love to hear from you. Comment below or take it to the Practice Index forum thread here.

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