Digital accessibility of healthcare establishments: obligations and good practice

Over the last ten years, the number of healthcare platforms has increased: appointment booking, pathology monitoring, teleconsultations, prevention applications, connected hospital pathways.
Everything seems smoother, faster and more “patient-centric”. Laboratory portals display elegant graphics, monitoring tools promise intelligent alerts and institutional sites rival each other in technical efficiency. But behind this showcase of modernity, are we sure that these tools really benefit everyone? What about disabled users?

Access to healthcare: a digital obstacle course for some users

Marie, aged 67, gave up after twenty minutes trying to validate an appointment form. Thomas, who is visually impaired, uses a screen reader to check his test results. Except that the laboratory's website only displays graphics that are illegible for his software. Léa, in a wheelchair, navigates her tablet with one hand. It's impossible to fill in certain fields that require multiple interactions.

These three people represent 28 % of French people living with a lasting functional limitation. And yet, in 2025, most healthcare platforms still ignore them such as Doctolib, the European leader in e-health and a French unicorn, which in November 2025 still has no declaration of accessibility despite the French legal framework.

Digital health promises to bring patients closer to care, but in all the talk of innovation, haven't we forgotten one essential thing: access for all? The groups affected by the lack of’digital accessibility are not marginal.

Almost a third of the French population could regularly come up against interfaces that have not been designed with them in mind. Contrasts too low, forms incompatible with screen readers, buttons impossible to reach with a keyboard. The result? A digital divide on top of the medical divide. An intolerable paradox for an area that is supposed to embody solidarity, and a major brake on the promise of a universal healthcare system.

Even today, accessibility declarations on hospital sites are not systematic, and compliance with 100% is unfortunately the exception rather than the rule. See also Monitoring compliance with digital accessibility obligations - Public hospitals sector 

Steps to take to integrate accessibility into digital health projects

The good news is that reconciliation is not only possible, but is already underway for some players. Every day, public institutions, start-ups and product teams are demonstrating that digital accessibility and innovation are not opposites in healthcare - they feed off each other.

Think accessibility from the outset

Accessibility can always be implemented on an existing digital product, but this is often laborious and costly. The solution? Integrate accessibility from the outset.

Some hospitals are now naming an accessibility consultant from the outset of a digital project. Its role? To challenge design choices to take account of all uses.

Systematic testing with disabled users

Automatic audit tools are not very reliable: they detect 30 to 40% accessibility problems. The remaining 60%? They only emerge in real-life situations, with real users. Some healthcare platforms are already working with patient associations to co-construct their interfaces.

Training teams in a culture of inclusivity for digital media

Preparing healthcare establishments for digital accessibility also means offering, through training, a new way of looking at the design of content made available to patients. Training means enabling all teams to think beyond their personal situation and open up to a more universal way of thinking.

Digital accessibility should not only be considered at the level of the establishment's website. It also concerns PDF documents, forms and all the digital procedures that are part of the patient journey.

Gradually, accessibility through training will become a design reflex rather than a regulatory constraint or a postponed adjustment.