Accessibility statement for hse.ie

This accessibility statement applies to all content published on hse.ie. This website is run by the Health Service Executive (HSE). 

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

For example, that means you should be able to:

  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader

Less accessible parts of the site 

Some parts of this website are not fully accessible, for example:

  • some pages have links to websites or software that we do not own or manage, so we cannot guarantee their accessibility
  • the feedback widget that is located on all pages is not accessible to all users, especially those on assistive technologies
  • some forms on our website are difficult to complete if accessed using assistive technologies
  • not all content is written in plain English

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format email digital@hse.ie. We’ll get back to you within 7 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact digital@hse.ie. 

Enforcement procedure

If you are not happy with our response, or you want to raise an accessibility issue that is not related to this website, you can make a complaint online on the HSE complaints and feedback page.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.

Non-accessible content

The content that is not accessible is listed below. We aim to fix these issues by December 2024.

Content that is not accessible

  • Some images are missing suitable alternative text.
  • Some images are not text free.
  • Some pages have text content with line heights and text spacings that cannot be modified.
  • Some page elements have colour contrast issues.
  • Some pages do not have consistent navigation.
  • Some pages do not have correctly ordered content.
  • Some page elements are not accessible to all users, particularly accordions
  • Some user interface components cannot be programmatically determined by all users.
  • Some pages include links of the same name that link to different destinations.
  • Some pages include link text that is not descriptive enough.

PDFs and non-HTML documents

Some documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.

Older PDFs that were published to the site before 2018 are not accessible.

Contact digital@hse.ie to request documents in an alternative format.

Disproportionate burden

We believe that fixing the accessibility problems with some content on this domain would be disproportionate because the relevant platform will be retired soon.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 2 May 2024. This website was last tested for accessibility issues on 19 April 2024. The test was carried out by HSE Digital.

How we did the test

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level A and Level AA to test and audit the level of conformance.

We have tested the site on different devices, screen readers and browsers.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We have assembled a multi-disciplinary team who are working on accessibility on an ongoing basis. Departments and agencies are urgently fixing content which fails to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 AA standard. We will update this page when issues are fixed.