Accessibility statement

NHS Blood and Transplant is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This accessibility statement applies to www.nhsbt.nhs.uk and www.nhsbtcareers.co.uk. These websites are run by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). They are designed to meet the needs of a wide range of users.

The text should be clear and simple to understand.

You should be able to:

  • zoom in without problems
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed in the non-accessible content section of this page.

How accessible this website is

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our websites.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible.

We have conducted an audit of our websites to determine which parts are not yet fully accessible. This has identified the need for several improvements which are listed in the non-accessible content section of this page.

Feedback and contact information

To request information in an alternative format, report accessibility problems or to get further advice please contact us:

  • by email
  • by letter to BD Customer Services, NHS Blood and Transplant, Charcot Road, Colindale, London, NW9 5BG
  • by phone on 0300 123 23 23


In your message, include: 

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address
  • the format you need (for example: audio CD, braille, BSL or large print, accessible PDF)


To use Text Relay dial 18001 0300 1232323.

To use text chat please SMS 07860 034343.

Information about call charges

Report accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or you think we’re not meeting the accessibility requirements, please contact us and let us know, so that we can put it right.

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you are not happy with our response, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

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’).

Non-accessible content

The content that is not accessible is outlined in this section with details of how it fails the success criteria.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  1. Some images do not have appropriate alternative text (alt text), failing WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.1.1 (non-text content).
  2. Some components, links and text have colour contrast issues, making them difficult to read. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)) and 1.4.11 (non-text contrast). Contrast issues are present in our cookies disclaimer, the search text field ("Your search here"), keyboard focus for the breadcrumb trail and highlighted text.
  3. Some links and labels are not descriptive enough, which fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 2.4.4 (Link purpose (in context)).
  4. Some components have focus or content expansion issues, failing WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 2.4.7 (focus visible) and 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  5. Some forms do not have appropriate descriptive labels, which fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships) and 3.3.2 (labels or instructions).
  6. The heading structure on some pages is not in a logical nested order, and some components have a fixed header size which does not allow for content to be organised hierarchically.
  7. Some non-HTML documents, including PDFs, do not indicate download sizes or file types in the link text and do not meet the necessary accessibility requirements in areas such as titles, headings, tables, reading order, images and links. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships) and 2.4.4 (link purpose (in context))
  8. There are no landmarks present on the website, which fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  9. There is a hovering issue on navigation links, which fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.4.13 (content on hover or focus).
  10. The “skip to content” link does not function correctly on certain pages, failing WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 2.4.1 (bypass blocks).
  11. Some videos do not provide captions or a transcript, failing WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.2.2 (captions (prerecorded)) and 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative (prerecorded)).
  12. Some tables do not have the appropriate semantic HTML structure, making it difficult for screen reader users to understand the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 1.3.1 (info and relationships).
  13. Some components are not accessible with a keyboard, failing WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 2.1.1 (keyboard).
  14. Certain pages do not conform to HTML standards, failing WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 4.1.1 (parsing).
  15. Certain pages have incorrect Aria attributes, which fails WCAG 2.1 AA criteria 4.1.2 (name, role, value).

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Some videos have audio description issues, these are exempt as they were published before 23 September 2020.

Accessibility of NHS Blood and Transplant services

Each NHSBT service has its own accessibility page, with details of how accessible the service is, how to report problems and how to request information in an alternative format. You can access these pages from the footer of each website.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 May 2020. It was last updated on 26 November 2024.

This website initially was tested by the Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA in April 2020, with a year 2 audit completed in September 2021.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test.

We also conduct monthly reviews against WCAG 2.2 of selected pages on this website using Silktide.

We are currently in the discovery phase of work to replace the NHS Give Blood Content Management System (CMS) to improve accessibility across our websites. We will update this page with new information about the improvements we make.

As part of our ongoing website management, we carry out regular assessments and checks of documents and pages that are uploaded.