Public health news: Health literacy

"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it's taken place". George Bernard Shaw.

Public health news: March 2024

Health literacy is being able to access, understand and use information to make choices about health.

In South Tyneside and Sunderland 65% of us struggle with health literacy.

This means that we might not be able to understand information about things that affect our health.

People who have low health literacy suffer the worst health outcomes.

The way to beat this is to explain everything simply. Then more people will be able to make sense of the information they get.

We need to make sure we're all communicating as simply as possible. It doesn't matter if this is speaking, writing, online or on signs.

We want everyone to be able to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, so we need to make sure all of our information is easy to understand.

First Contact Clinical and South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) offer some great health literacy awareness training. It is essential for anyone who communicates, all of us!

First Contact Clinical Health Literacy Awareness:

STSFT Health Literacy Awareness training sessions:

  •  at Sunderland Royal Hospital
  • online on Teams
  •  at South Tyneside District Hospital

STSFT How to Write Simply training sessions:

  •  at Sunderland Royal Hospital
  •  online on Teams
  •  at South Tyneside District Hospital