Health literacy

Health literacy

Health literacy is having enough knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to use health information to be an active partner in your care and to navigate health and social care systems.

It is one of the most reliable predictors of how well someone can use the services available to them. Around four in ten adults in England struggle with the health information that's routinely given out — and the proportion is much higher in inclusion health groups, in older people, and in some specific communities.

What low health literacy looks like

It is not stupidity, and it is not a moral failing. It is structural. Common signs:

• Bringing in piles of unopened letters from the surgery or DWP
• Saying "I don't really understand" when asked about their condition or medication
• Bringing a relative or friend to interpret what they are being told
• Not engaging with online services that the system assumes everyone uses.

What SPLWs do about it

The framework asks SPLWsSPLW— Social Prescribing Link WorkerA role that supports people to access community-based services, groups and activities to meet practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing. Used internationally; equivalents in some countries include 'link worker', 'community connector' or 'health navigator'. to:

• Understand the impact of health literacy on someone's ability to navigate health and social care.
• Assess through informal or formal assessment (often a focused conversation).
• Adapt the information you give to meet the person's current literacy.
• Plan a route to increasing literacy alongside their goals — for instance, if they need to use a benefits portal, build that into the plan.

Practical techniques

• Use plain English. Reading age 9–12 is a good benchmark.
• Teach-back: ask the person to tell you, in their own words, what they understood. Not a test — a check on whether you communicated well.
• Provide one thing at a time, not a leaflet stack.
• Use visual aids and pictures where possible.
• Offer to translate jargon that other services use, even if you wouldn't use it yourself.
• Apply the Accessible Information Standard — interpreters, large print, easy-read versions, and respect for the person's stated preferences.

Don't confuse digital exclusion with low literacy

Some people have high health literacy but are digitally excluded (no smartphone, no broadband, no confidence with apps). Others use digital fluently but find paper letters baffling. Ask, don't assume.

Linked competencies

• Assesses and adapts to levels of health literacy (Domain 2)
• Communicates according to needs and preferences (Domain 1)
• Uses a range of consultation methods (Domain 1).