Accessibility and inclusivity means that all information and services are available and usable to as many people as possible, regardless of ability, social background or other factors.
We are committed to improving all our services with accessibility and inclusivity in mind.
How we make our services accessible
We are working hard to make sure that our services are accessible to all.
This includes using plain language when communicating with people who use our services, and ensuring our buildings are accessible to all.
How we ensure social inclusion
Our National Social Inclusion Office (NSIO) works to make sure that people in vulnerable groups have an equal level of access to health services.
The office provides services to:
- people who live with addiction
- those experiencing homelessness
- people from other cultures who may have different needs, including refugees, migrants and those needing protection
- Irish Travellers and the Roma community
- the LGBTQI+ community (those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or another sexuality)
- those living with domestic, sexual or gender-based violence
The NSIO works closely with the following groups:
- National Addiction Advisory Governance Group (NAGG)
- Homeless Advisory Governance Group (HAGG)
- National Migrant Group
- National Traveller Health Advisory Forum (NTHAF)
- Roma Health Network Ireland (RHNI)
- LGBTQI sub-group
- Domestic Sexual and Gender Based Violence sub-group
Being an inclusive employer
We aim to develop our workforce so that it reflects the diversity of the people who use the HSE’s services.
We are an equal opportunities' employer.
This means we commit to treating our employees equally across recruitment, pay, conditions, training, work experience and career progression regardless of:
- age
- civil status
- disability
- ethnicity and race
- family status
- gender
- membership of the Traveller community
- religion
- sexuality
Training and advising staff - the DEI Team
The HSE’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) team is dedicated to helping managers and staff to provide an inclusive service through training.
HSE staff can find out more about training on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in the workplace on HSeLanD and the DEI team can be contacted with any queries or concerns at: diversity.HR@hse.ie
There is more information about our priorities to improve the way the HSE recruits, plans and develops its workforce in our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy 2022 to 2024.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility as a content publisher
Our National Guidelines on Accessible Health and Social Care Services explains how we would like services to provide information to people.
It is important that information is easy to understand and is accessible to everyone.
The EU directive on accessibility requires that all public bodies provide an accessible website. We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible. This is something that we are working to improve every day.
A team has been put together to improve accessibility across hse.ie, and they are fixing content that doesn't meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
You can contact the team by emailing digital@hse.ie if you:
- need information in a different format
- find an accessibility problem that isn’t listed here
- want a copy of a PDF document in an alternative format