Websites & patient experience · Practical guide

Healthcare website accessibility: what to put in the brief

An accessibility brief should describe how people will use your healthcare website and how the finished work will be evaluated. Ask for evidence from important journeys, including booking and contact, rather than accepting a general claim that a theme or plugin is accessible.

Name the journeys that matter

List the tasks visitors need to complete: find a service, understand its location and cost information, read clinician details, make contact or request an appointment. Include any external booking system and downloadable documents that form part of those journeys.

Specify the accessibility standard and scope you intend to evaluate with your project team. Use W3C guidance to structure the work, and obtain advice appropriate to your organisation where legal obligations need to be determined. A design label alone does not establish compliance.

Request practical test evidence

  • Use the main navigation and forms with a keyboard, keeping the focus position visible.
  • Inspect meaningful labels, instructions and error messages on forms.
  • Check content at increased text size and on a narrow screen.
  • Test contrast and information that might otherwise depend on colour alone.
  • Evaluate representative journeys with assistive technology.
  • Include users with relevant access needs in usability research.

Make forms understandable

A field should explain what it needs before the visitor makes a mistake. When validation fails, identify the problem and preserve information that can safely remain in the form. Do not rely only on a coloured border or a message that disappears before it can be read.

When a form opens another platform, test the handover and the route back. Assign responsibility for defects in the third-party journey. Keeping the marketing pages accessible is not enough if the next essential step is unusable.

Plan for content changes after launch

Agree how editors will structure headings, write link text, provide image alternatives and create documents. Build these decisions into reusable components and an editorial checklist. New content can introduce barriers even when the original templates were carefully tested.

At handover, request the evaluation scope, findings, unresolved issues, remediation owners and a route for visitors to report difficulties. Schedule re-evaluation when key journeys or suppliers change. Kay & Co. can help translate this brief into design, development and ongoing maintenance work.

Further reading

These primary sources provide additional context for the project decisions above.

Related decisions

Turn the brief into a working service

Kay & Co. can help you scope the work, design the experience and deliver the right solution for your organisation.

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