How UMC Utrecht puts digital accessibility at the heart of its work
Discover how UMC Utrecht integrated digital accessibility quickly and effectively with Eye-Able.
About UMC Utrecht
UMC Utrecht is a leading academic medical center in the Netherlands, affiliated with Utrecht University and employing thousands of professionals in healthcare, education, and research. As a center for patient care, innovation, and education, UMC Utrecht is deeply embedded in society, and aims to make digital information and services truly usable for everyone, regardless of disability.
“Accessibility is a crucial topic within our hospital. On the one hand, that means physical accessibility of the building. On the other, it means digital accessibility. When you walk through the hospital and see the people here, you realize that everyone already has a lot on their mind — people don’t come here lightly. That’s exactly why the information we provide has to be right. If you exclude someone or make information hard to access, you only make an already difficult situation more complex. That’s why it’s so important to actively remove as many barriers as possible.”
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The challenge: accessibility as a baseline requirement
In healthcare, digital information is often critical, ranging from practical visiting information to complex medical guidelines. For UMC Utrecht, this means that online communication must be just as accessible as the physical care environment itself. That requires more than a one-off project or compliance exercise; it calls for a structural, organization-wide approach to digital accessibility.
Why the UMC Utrecht hospital choose Eye-Able
“UMC Utrecht has a very large website with an enormous amount of information. We discovered that there were many accessibility issues across the site. That was the moment we realized we needed to take action — not because legislation would eventually require it, but because it’s something we believe we should be doing anyway. From the very first conversation with Eye-Able, you could immediately feel their intrinsic motivation to truly improve accessibility.”
UMC Utrecht chose Eye-Able for several key reasons:
Continuous WCAG compliance
UMC Utrecht’s website meets the technical requirements of the WCAG guidelines — with ongoing monitoring through the Eye-Able Platform to ensure accessibility remains up to date over time.
Practical tools for real users
Eye-Able provides assistive tools that allow users to adjust the website to their individual needs, supporting people with visual, cognitive, and other disabilities in a practical, user-centered way.
Accessibility embedded in processes
Accessibility is no longer treated as a one-off checklist, but as an integral part of UMC Utrecht’s digital workflows — supported by continuous monitoring, insights, and improvement.
The results of UMC Utrecht
Since implementing Eye-Able and placing a strong focus on digital accessibility, UMC Utrecht has been able to:
Better meet legal and technical requirements
Compliance with standards such as WCAG 2.2 and EN 301 549 is now structurally embedded and continuously monitored.
Make information accessible to more people
Patients and visitors can access digital information more easily — regardless of disability or language background.
Build a culture of inclusion within digital teams
Accessibility awareness has grown across teams involved in digital content creation and development.
“What I notice most from these improvements is the level of awareness they’ve created — also within our teams. I’m incredibly proud that UMC Utrecht can serve as an example and a frontrunner in this area. And just as importantly, we’re able to share our experiences with other hospitals and show that accessibility is actually easy to implement — with a very large impact.”
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“From the very first conversation with Eye-Able, you could immediately sense their intrinsic motivation. Today, our website is designed in a way that truly supports people with cognitive, motor, and visual impairments — making it accessible for a much broader group of users.”
Els Timans, Lead Digital Marketing and Communication
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