Health literacy and patient information

NHS knowledge and information specialists work with NHS colleagues and with information providers in community settings to improve access to high-quality patient, health and well-being information.

Through access to the evidence base, NHS knowledge and library services staff equip healthcare colleagues to provide evidence-based information.

They can also help to identify patient, health and well-being information in accessible formats, enabling NHS organisations to meet their legal obligations under the Accessible Information Standard.

NHS knowledge and library staff support healthcare colleagues and information providers in public libraries, prisons, schools and pharmacies to develop health literacy skills and techniques that they can then share with members of the public.

Working in Partnership

The NHS England Knowledge and Library Services Team work with partners to promote health literacy and access to high quality health information for everyone:

As part of the 10 Year Health Plan for England, we are working with the Technology, Data and Digital Team at NHS England, Libraries Connected, the Reading Agency and public library partners to promote access to the NHS App. Governance for this project sits with the Universal Library Offer Health and Wellbeing Group.

We work as part of a national Health Literacy Partnership with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), Arts Council England and Libraries Connected to support citizens to develop the skills that they will need to access, assess and use health information in an increasingly digital environment.

Through the Partnership, a number of small-scale pilots were funded to promote health and digital literacy across a range of urban and rural settings in England.

Health Literacy Resources

Health literacy training: awareness and train the trainer programmes are delivered in partnership with NHS knowledge and library specialists as part of the Knowledge for Healthcare Learning Academy offer. The training is advertised regularly in the Knowledge for Healthcare Digest and you can find the training resources on FutureNHS (this workspace is for NHS knowledge and library staff).

NHS knowledge specialists who have completed train the trainer can go on to deliver Royal Society for Public Health accredited health literacy training across the healthcare system.  RSPH accreditation provides assurance and credibility as well as evidence of formal continuing professional development, meeting revalidation requirements.

There is also a shorter 35 minute Health Literacy eLearning programme which is available on elearning for healthcare and provides an introduction to health literacy and some tools and techniques to improve health communication.

Health Literacy Toolkit: the toolkit is designed to develop your understanding of health literacy and tools to help to simplify health information.

Health Literacy Community of Practice: A discussion list for NHS knowledge and library staff to share ideas and resources on health literacy.

Ideas Bank: if you are looking for some inspiration, try a search on the NHS knowledge and library ideas bank.

Health Literacy Campaigns

Health Information Week is a national, multi-sector campaign. It promotes high-quality information for patients and the public.

Health Literacy Month is an international campaign running through October which aims to highlight health literacy as a health equity issue.

Get Online Week is a campaign run by the Good Things Foundation to promote digital inclusion. Good Things Foundation works in partnership with public libraries to promote access to digital devices and data for all.