Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to www.digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/. This website is run by the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) operating within NHS England. 

In April 2023 NHS England merged with Health Education England and NHS Digital to form a new organisation. We are reviewing our legacy website estate to simplify the experience and improve accessibility for our users. 

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. 

On this website, you should be able to: 

• use your web browser to change colours, contrast levels, and fonts
• zoom in up to 400% with text staying visible on the screen, and most images scaling without resolution loss, using standard browser features
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• read most of the website using a screen reader, including the latest versions of JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver 
• read most of the website on devices without a screen, like a braille computer
• use the website even if Javascript is switched off
• access the website using a mobile or tablet. 

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. Some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means. 

If you have a disability then AbilityNet has advice to help you make your device easier to use. 

We know that some parts of this website aren't fully accessible. For example: 

• some pages have problems with heading structure
• some pages are difficult to navigate via keyboard due to issues with focus indicators
• many pages do not display alternative text appropriately for decorative images
• some pages do not meet the correct colour contrast threshold
• some form error messages are not associated with their components
• some old publication documents which are in PDF format haven't been designed for accessibility. 

This website uses some components from its parent website, digital.nhs.uk. Compliance for these will be listed on the NHS Digital accessibility statement. 

If you need information on this website in a different format like an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille email [email protected], call 0300 303 5678 or contact the NDRS service directly. 

We will consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible. 

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, contact us with details of the problem you have encountered. 

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, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). 

The National Disease Registration Service is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. 

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below. 

The content listed below is non-compliant for the following reasons: 

Issues with links 

We are aware of the following issues within the links on our site: 

Many older PDF files contain broken links which do not resolve - we do not intend to resolve these as it is a disproportionate burden for files which are no longer in active use. 

Issues with PDFs and other documents 

PDFs are not able to comply with the requirements of the web accessibility standard, and we do not generally upload new PDFs. Where we do create new PDFs, we use the PDF/A standard which is more accessible. 

Our site contains a number of PDFs created in previous years. 

Where these are no longer being updated, we do not intend to recreate them in accessible versions as this would be a disproportionate burden.The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. 

Issues with images 

Some of the images on our site are complex diagrams where suitable alt text is not possible. In these cases we have ensured there is a detailed description on the page 

Alternative text is not displayed appropriately for decorative images located within the website footer and banner templates. 

Issues with text and content 

An incorrect heading structure is applied to parts of the website template. For example, title text is not marked up with the correct heading structure within the footer, search results and within forms. 

Cards make use of heading structure but are marked up at the wrong level. 

Some content elements do not meet the correct colour contrast threshold within the search results page. 

Error messages within forms are not associated with their components, for example reCAPTCHA and checkbox components. 

Issues with keyboard navigation 

We are aware that the focus order within search results is incorrect. Focus indicators are also not fully displayed within search results and forms pages. 

Issues with interactive tools 

We are aware that we have RShiny and SAS Viya visualisations available on the website. Neither of these software items are accessible, and cannot be made accessible. In some cases the information is not easily available to users in an accessible format. We are currently investigating accessible visualisation tools. If you require information from these tools, then please get in touch via the contact us page 

PDFs and other documents 

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services. However if there is a specific document that you would like to request in HTML format we will do our best to oblige where possible and practicable. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. 

The following improvements have been made based on the latest test report from AbilityNet: 

• The opt-out email field within forms can now be focused 

• The opt-out page heading now uses the correct structure 

Following the report we have also carried out an audit of all images used in our content and added alternative text or detailed descriptions. We plan to review these periodically. 

In April 2023 NHS England merged with Health Education England and NHS Digital to form a single organisation. We are currently in the planning phase of a major project to create a new consolidated NHS England website and improve accessibility to ensure compliance with the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. We will update this page with current information about the improvements we make. 

This statement was last updated on 14 November 2024. This website was last accessibility tested on 19 March 2024 by Ability.net.