Tackling Poor Health Literacy
43% of adults in the UK struggle to understand written health information, with 61% struggling if it contains words and numbers. This course provides techniques to enhance the communication and comprehension of health information to improve outcomes.
What will participants learn?
Health literacy training equips staff with the skills to:
- Understand how low health literacy affects health inequalities
- Recognise how poor health literacy can impact a patient's care
- Identify barriers that prevent patients from understanding information
- Apply clear communication techniques to support patient decisions
- Use strategies that increase comprehension of health information
- Support patient empowerment through improved information sharing
Who is it for?
This workforce training is designed for professionals who support the public with illness, injury, or lifestyle behaviour change. It is relevant to doctors, nurses, health educators, social workers, receptionists, volunteers, and others working in health or care settings where clear health communication and comprehension is essential.
What does the course include?
- An overview of the impact of low health literacy
- Tools to improve written and verbal communication in healthcare
- Practical strategies to ensure patient understanding
- Case studies showing applied health communications improvements
- A chance to review participants' own materials
- Training exercises to practice techniques in a safe environment
- A reference sheet of key techniques for use during consultations
This is recommended as a half-day course. All of our courses can be delivered in person or online. Depending on requirements, we can also offer more in-depth training packages with multi-day, follow-up, and train-the-trainer options.
Invest your remaining annual budget in workforce training
Empower your team with a year-end training package!
If your organisation is looking for a meaningful way to spend surplus budget, SMG Learning's training provides lasting value by equipping your teams with practical skills that benefit the communities you work with! We provide:
- Content tailored to you: every programme is designed around your organisation's specific needs and priorities
- Proven expertise: we have decades of experience as behaviour change practitioners, backed by accreditation
- Results that matter: 95% of participants recommend our training to colleagues
- Flexible delivery: online or in-person, full-day or half-day options are available to suit your schedule
- Book now, train later options: you can secure your place and arrange delivery up to six months ahead
- Full support: we can handle booking administration, communications, and evaluation so you don't have to
Call us on 0141 387 7294 or get in touch via our contact form.
Why choose our training?
To maximise training value and effectiveness, we offer:
- Content tailored to participant needs through pre-engagement with client teams
- Evidence-based approaches like Making Every Contact Count (MECC) and Motivational Interviewing (MI)
- Interactive learning, including simulations and real-world skills practice
- Follow-up support to help staff implement their new skills
- Continuous refinement of our courses through evaluation and participant feedback
Very relevant content, not just to healthcare professionals, but our service users and policy makers as well.
Training Participant
OHID
Training is great for helping you to understand how widespread health literacy issues can be. The tools are useful to improve verbal and written communications which I will definitely take away with me.
Training Participant
OHID