Accessibility

Oldham residents who rely on screen readers, keyboards or translation tools to use the internet still face barriers on the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care website, the organisation has admitted in an updated accessibility statement.

While the site lets visitors change colours, fonts and zoom up to 300 % without text spilling off the page, it blocks users from adjusting line height, skips repeated headers and leaves many older PDFs unreadable by assistive software. Forms and maps on the 'home' and 'my borough' pages also trap keyboard-only visitors.

The care body has pledged to audit and repair every PDF published before 31 March 2026, switch governance papers to HTML where possible and begin adding British Sign Language content. Live video streams will stay uncaptioned because they are exempt from the 2018 accessibility regulations.

Anyone needing information in large print, braille, audio or easy-read formats can request it; the digital communications team promises to reply within seven days. Complaints that remain unresolved can be escalated to the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

The statement, last reviewed on 30 January 2025, confirms the site is only partially compliant with national AA web standards. Testing by the agency Neo in June 2023 combined automated tools, manual checks and user trials, yet gaps persist for the roughly one in five local people who live with a disability.