HomeAccessibility
Accessibility statementBuilt to be read by everyone who needs the evidence.
This site is for senior laboratory and clinical readers, and the work it describes turns on figures and citations. It has to be usable with a keyboard, with a screen reader, and with motion turned down. This statement sets out what we aim for, what we have done, and how to tell us where it falls short.
A WCAG 2.2 AA target across the site.
We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA. That is the standard most UK public-sector and NHS-facing services are measured against, and it is the bar we set for ourselves. We treat it as a working target, not a claim of certification.
- Semantic HTML, with a single main landmark and labelled navigation, footer and section regions.
- Text and interface colours chosen against the bone-and-ink palette to hold readable contrast.
- Content reflows to a single column on small screens without loss of meaning or function.
- Headings run in order, so the page can be navigated by structure and not only by sight.
Everything works without a mouse.
Every interactive part of the site can be reached and operated from the keyboard alone, in a sensible order, with the focused element always visible.
Skip link
The first focusable item on every page is a "Skip to content" link. Press Tab once on load and activate it to jump straight past the header to the main content.
Primary navigation
The top navigation is a list of links you tab through in order. Each link is reachable and activatable with the keyboard, and where a navigation item corresponds to the page you are on, it is marked as current for assistive technology.
Tests dropdown
The "Tests" menu is a real button that reports whether it is open and controls a labelled menu. It opens and closes from the keyboard, closes on Escape, and its items are tabbable links.
Mobile menu
On small screens the menu toggle is a labelled button that reports its open state. The expanded menu is a plain list of links, operable by keyboard and by touch.
Focus is never hidden. When an element is focused with the keyboard it carries a visible focus indicator, so you can always see where you are on the page.
Reduce motion in your system, and the site holds still.
The site uses small amounts of motion — content that eases in as you scroll, a thin reading-progress bar, and a signature figure whose curve draws itself once when it first appears. None of it carries meaning the text does not also state.
When your operating system or browser is set to reduce motion (the prefers-reduced-motion setting), the site honours it. All motion freezes: content is shown in place rather than animating in, and every figure is drawn complete rather than animating. The interactive thrombogram read-out stays available — it is information, not decoration. Nothing becomes unavailable when motion is off; only the movement stops.
Motion is decorative throughout. Every figure's meaning is carried by the surrounding text and its citation, so reducing or disabling motion never removes information.
Every figure has a real-text equivalent.
The test pages carry schematic figures — thrombin curves, cleavage scales, method-comparison scatter plots and the like. These are drawn for explanation, not as patient data, and they are never the only place a number appears.
- Each figure is paired with a text equivalent: the key numbers are written out in selectable text beside it.
- Drawn figures carry a descriptive label for screen readers, or are marked decorative where the same numbers sit in the adjacent text.
- Figures that illustrate rather than report are captioned as schematic, so none is mistaken for pooled patient data.
- Figures on our specialist test pages cite their published source, in text you can select and follow.
If a figure does not render — for example with images or scripts disabled — the numbers it shows are still present in the text beside it.
What we know, and what we have not yet checked.
We have built and reviewed the site against the AA target ourselves. We have not yet commissioned an external audit, so we describe its status honestly rather than claim full conformance.
If you find a barrier we have missed, please tell us — your report is the most useful test we have, and we will act on it.
Report an accessibility problem.
If anything on this site is hard to read, reach or operate, email us with the page and what went wrong. We read every report and act on it.