The North East and North Cumbria health literacy team is inviting members of the public to take part in a research study with the University of Sunderland.
The team has made a set of health literacy standards for organisations to follow and wants to understand how to help organisations use the standards.
Who can take part?
You can join if you:
- Are aged 18 or over
- Have used healthcare services in the UK (such as GP, hospital, NHS, private, or community services)
What’s involved?
- A one-hour online group discussion (via Microsoft Teams)
- Sharing your experiences and views in a small group
You will receive a £25 digital gift voucher as a thank you.
Health literacy is about people being able to understand health information, making it easier for them to do this. It’s talking to patients using everyday words and writing to them in a way that’s clear to help patients make informed choices about their health.
It is important that health information is written in a way that can be understood so that people can make informed choices about their health. The average reading age of adults in the UK is nine to 11 years old. Half of adults find it hard to understand health information. So they struggle to use it to help their health and wellbeing. This creates health inequalities.
People with low health literacy:
- Are more likely to die younger
- Are more likely to have long-term conditions
- Miss appointments more often
- Find it hard to take medication correctly
- Feel worried and angry
- Struggle to look after their own health effectively
What can we do about it?
We can all share clearer health information. We can all speak and write in ways that make it easier for our patients to understand.
We can write in a clear way, at the average UK reading age. We can use as little medical jargon as possible. We can talk about health using everyday words.
We can check with patients if we’ve explained clearly before they go home. The regional health literacy team is here to help with this.
Take part in the research study here: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=YNmgFnTuVk-iKhmuBXkYskbNwkzT9ERIohj38I3unWlUNlRTWFJCN0Q2OTVTSzQxWlRDSFJOWUpPNS4u&route=shorturl
