Inspired by Jonathan Berry’s blog post on the NHS England website we are here to make our case for health literacy and pledge to host events by our library service as part of Health Information Week 2017.
While our library service is for staff at the Christie, part of this involves supporting the provision of patient information. Jonathan Berry claims that “between 43% and 61% of English working age adults routinely do not understand health information” this may include;
- misunderstanding an important diagnosis
- being confused about instructions for medication
- not understanding medical jargon, for example on hospital signage or during outpatient appointments or inpatient stays
- not understanding clearly how some conditions (i.e.. diabetes) can be self managed, or prevented through lifestyle factors
As such, low levels of health literacy can cause illness and in turn cost the NHS money which could have been prevented by medical professionals explaining things in plain language, engaging their patients with information, and directing them to reliable and targeted sources of information elsewhere.
HEALTHCARE LITERACY RESOURCES
So how can we help medical professionals to prevent this, well we have a list of useful resources here:
- The Department of Health provides leaflets and booklets free of charge via their Publications Orderline and there are a colossal range of subjects covered.
- The Change for Life website promotes healthy lifestyle in an accessible and fun way
- Public Health England has a range of Smoking Cessation resources on their website
- Social Media is a powerful communication tool and a way for NHS professionals to help engage with the public and encourage better understanding of health issues. Fab NHS Stuff (an organisation based in the North West) want to change the negative stigma of staff using social media and encourage healthcare professionals to Engage Well, share positive experiences of communication and education with patients on social media and encourage clinician-led communities of patients online.
- The Christie itself also has the Cancer Information Centre situated on the glass corridor on the ground floor, here are many resources along with helpful and knowledgeable staff who can guide both patients and staff with healthcare information that might help. Full details of the service are available on their page on the Christie website.