UK Healthcare Libraries Empower Their Communities with Health Literacy Skills

Everyone deserves access to quality health information they can understand

You know that saying about information being power?

When it comes to health information, it’s also important for combating diseases of all kinds and staying healthy — but health information isn’t always written or presented in the most accessible format.

And that’s where we can help.

In healthcare libraries, we’re surrounded by extremely well-educated clinicians, managers, and support staff — but for many of us, trying to decipher what the information means is very, very tough.

Originally a summer event, but moved to January for 2025, Health Information Week takes place annually. Each year usually has different themes , with health literacy and misinformation amongst them for this year. With a still-new government in England, with members who are very keen to help the population take ownership of their health, there’s a challenging but exciting role for librarians and libraries in the months and years ahead.

While literacy is a word used to describe our ability to read, health literacy refers to the ability to read, understand, and use health information to make informed decisions about our health and well-being, as well as our levels of confidence in getting access to healthcare services.

 


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An aspect of society that’s become all too evident since the pandemic — although it was certainly there beforehand, too — is health inequality, where it’s very apparent that those who live in areas with high levels of poverty also have high levels of illness or long-term conditions to contend with.

Heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, respiratory problems — these are just some of the conditions that those in less wealthy areas are likely to experience. Shockingly, around ten million people in England currently lack health literacy levels that could help them understand how to manage these conditions.

Although we have a publicly funded “National” Health Service across the UK, many of us experience what’s called a “postcode lottery.” Postcodes are similar to zip codes, and a lot of the healthcare you can access depends on your place of residence — and so does your health.

If you’re lucky enough to live in a green and leafy, warm area with access to green recreational space, then your chances of good health are higher than if you live in the middle of a busy city with traffic fumes all around you. (Of course, the notoriously changeable British weather doesn’t help.)

Partnership working between sectors is always encouraged to get the word out there about health literacy and how important it is, but with many libraries severely understaffed (whether they’re public, NHS, academic, or workplace), this can be difficult to arrange.

 


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In previous years, Health Information Week has taken place in the summer, but starting 2025, it’s moved to its new home in January.

In an effort to reach more of our users, we’ll put together an online quiz this year, accessible via the intranet, to see what people know about health literacy, with an ‘analog’ version available in the library, using cards with written answers on them. This will be backed up with a physical book display in the library showcasing some of our health literacy titles , including bestsellers like Menopausing, Ultra-Processed People, and Just One Thing by Dr Michael Mosley.

We’re always on the lookout for ways to help people improve their levels of health literacy, and that includes borrowing ideas from our peers — with due accreditation.

Other NHS libraries are running online webinar-style sessions this year to introduce the topic of health literacy. Previous projects around England included loaning iPads with preloaded, preselected links to useful and, crucially, reliable information. The professional membership organisation for UK librarians, CILIP, also has case studies available from the pilots that were run in 2022–23.

These included working with young offenders between ages seventeen and twenty-one to help them access and engage with health information, social prescribing (it isn’t only tablets that are prescribed to help service users!), outreach into rural areas, working with staff in public libraries to make sure they had the skills required to help their users with health queries, and online outreach.

Running parallel with the health literacy issue is that of digital literacy — it’s a myth that everyone in the younger generations is born with high levels of digital skills, even though it can sometimes seem like it! Again, inequality of access to resources plays a huge role here, and interestingly, the Trust I work at has recently realised they need an organisational lead in this area.

Next year promises (again!) to be a challenging year for all of us. As the Trust is one of Wigan Borough’s “anchor” institutions, I’m looking forward to seeing how the library can work with other organisations in the group to help raise confidence levels around health information in the area — starting with our own users.

 


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References

Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) (c2023) Health and Digital Literacy Pilot Case Studies, https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/health-and-digital-case-studies

NHS England (c2023) Addressing low levels of health literacy: a determinant of poor health: A commentary by Sue Lacey Bryant, Chief Knowledge Officer, NHS England, https://library.nhs.uk/addressing-low-levels-of-health-literacy-a-determinant-of-poor-health/

Wigan Council (c2023) Community Wealth Building, https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Council/The-Deal/Community-Wealth-Building.aspx

 


 

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