Spotlight on ... Health Literacy

October is Health Literacy Month. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, appraise and use health information to make health-related decisions. In the UK, we know from research by Gill Rowlands that 43% of adults struggle with text-based health information; rising to 61% if the health information includes numbers as well as text. In Cheshire East this is estimated to be 35% for text-based information, rising to 54% for information with text and numbers. NHS staff need to be aware of health literacy issues to support effective access to information. The Library & Knowledge Service have resources and toolkits you can use to improve your communication skills and awareness of health literacy issues. Check out the Health Literacy Knowledge Hub on the library website.

On Monday 19th October 12:30-1:15pm HEE and BMJ are jointly delivering a free lunch time webinar for Health Literacy Month 2020 which will highlight some of the health literacy challenges that lead to poor outcomes. It will also demonstrate ways that clinicians can use BMJ Best Practice to support shared decision-making and informed consent. Sign up here:
https://healtheducationyh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/health-literacy-and-patient-information-online-booking and you will be sent a MS Teams invite a few days before the event.

Contact us for more information:
Email: ecn-tr.StaffLibrary@nhs.net
​Phone: 01625 661362