Health literacy is considered a stronger predictor of an individual’s health status than are income, employment status, education level, and racial or ethnic group.
Many people do not have the skills needed to understand and use routine health information. Low health literacy is estimated to affect 43% of adults in England (Rowlands et al, 2015) with the population groups most at being known the have the poorest health outcomes (Public Health England, 2015). To address this health inequality, the Personalised Care Team at NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire launched the ‘Becoming a Health Literate Organisation’ (HLO) project.
As part of the project, a new training offer has been launched to raise awareness of health literacy and provide people with the tools they need to make improvements.
Training
Trainer-led Health Literacy Awareness sessions are available to book via the ICS Academy. The 75-minute session is a localised version of training accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health. It comprises of 60-minutes accredited content (CPD attached) and 15-minutes localised content. By the end of the session, you will know:
- How to define health literacy and why it is important.
- Where to find local data, including our Health Literacy survey results.
- The implications of low health to services.
- Techniques to tackle low health literacy and improve outcomes.
Book via the ICS Academy: Course: Health Literacy Awareness Training (hubkencore.com). You will need an ICS Academy account to register. For instructions, see the user guide.
What next?
After the training you will be invited to join our local Health Literacy Network to receive quarterly newsletters and invites to events. You will also receive a follow up ‘Making it happen’ meeting invite to support with plans to implement learning.
Dates
- Tuesday 7th May 2024, 12:00pm – 01:15pm.
- Thursday 6th June 2024, 11:30am – 12:45pm.
- Monday 15th July 2024, 09:30am – 10:45am.
For more information or questions, contact hw.personalisedcare@nhs.net