Government organisations and institutions spend millions on cybersecurity, protecting their digital systems from data theft.

Yet many neglect an equally harmful risk: poor accessibility across digital products, services, and platforms.

In this series, team members at Passion4Social share personal experiences of inaccessible digital spaces that left them feeling frustrated, excluded, and even endangered.

Here is one colleague’s experience of attempting to navigate online GP services within the NHS.

Logged out of healthcare

We all know how stretched the NHS is, and this is not a criticism of overworked staff or underfunded services.

It is about something more fundamental: how digital accessibility in healthcare directly impacts patients.

Something that is within leaders’ power to change, because it does not require a vast investment, just a commitment to adopting a more inclusive, accessibility-first approach when designing systems and platforms.

When I recently tried to register for my GP’s online portal, the process was fraught with challenges and distractions from the get-go.

The sign-up process was complex, requiring multiple attempts.

Prompting was limited, leaving me unsure which steps to take next and which information to enter in the form fields.

Verification steps failed without pointing me to a clear explanation of what had gone wrong, so each time I thought I had completed the form, I was pushed back to the beginning.
Having eventually managed to create a login, I found the guidance explaining how to book online appointments was poorly written and assumed patients had prior knowledge of the service.

For people who are neurodivergent, anxious, or managing mental health conditions, these types of accessibility failures go far beyond being an inconvenience.

Ambiguous instructions and unexplained processes increase stress and anxiety, often resulting in patients going without the vital support they need.

Key public service organisations like the NHS need to adopt this rule of thumb: you cannot over-explain when it comes to healthcare access.

Information should also be written in clear, plain language, avoiding the use of complicated terminology or acronyms and sticking to shorter sentence structures to allow for processing details.

Formatting was one particular barrier that also prolonged my attempts to book an appointment.

Dense blocks of text made it difficult to understand what action I needed to take, but even basic adherence to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) when designing the platform would have made my experience much more intuitive.

We are talking about using clear cascading headings, logical page structures, numbered lists and bullet points, and even spacing to ensure text appears in predictable, manageable chunks.

That does not require a huge amount of extra effort or resources when these features are baked into processes from day one.

Finally, there was also an assumption from my local practice staff that the portal was “self-explanatory.”

When I called them for clarification, I received contradictory answers about which online system to use and when.

Multiple portals existed for different purposes, but no clear signposting explained which applied to my situation.

Again, this is an issue that could so easily be remedied.

If staff had training in using the online portal, as well as how to manage requests for additional support, they could provide clear and competent guidance.

Our message to the NHS

Digital accessibility in healthcare should never be a luxury or a postcode lottery.

It is a patient safety issue.

When organisations assume their systems are intuitive, they shift the burden onto patients — many of whom are already vulnerable.

Following WCAG guidelines and basic accessible design principles is not complicated. Clear instructions, consistent formatting, plain language, and defined user pathways would alleviate confusion and reduce pressure on both patients and staff.

If accessing care online becomes overwhelming, patients often give up entirely.

When that is allowed to happen, the price is debilitating illness, declining mental health, and failures in the duty of care.