What should a GP practice accessibility statement include?

Why you need one

The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 require public sector websites to be accessible and to publish an accessibility statement. GP practice websites publish them under these regulations, and NHS England’s GP website benchmark checks for one among its legal requirements.

The standard is WCAG 2.2 level AA. In England, Scotland and Wales the Equality and Human Rights Commission enforces the regulations, and the government checks a sample of public sector websites every year.

What it must say

GOV.UK publishes a sample accessibility statement you can follow. Under the regulations, your statement needs to cover:

• how accessible the website is, and whether it fully or partly meets WCAG 2.2 AA
• which parts aren’t accessible, and why
• any accessible alternatives, such as a phone number or a document in another format
• how to report an accessibility problem, with a way to contact you
• how to complain to the enforcement body if you don’t respond
• when the statement was prepared and last reviewed, and how the website was tested

Be honest. A statement that says “partly compliant” and lists the problems is far better than one that claims full compliance nobody has checked.

Where to put it

Publish the statement as a page on your website, not a downloadable document, and link to it from every page. Most practices put the link in the footer, next to the privacy notice.

Keeping it up to date

GOV.UK asks you to review and update your statement regularly. A good habit is to check it whenever your website changes in a big way, and at least once a year. Update the “last reviewed” date each time.