National Health Literacy Webinar
04/03/2025 1:00 pm to 04/03/2025 3:00 pm
Event Details
** This event has now passed **
This event is being funded by NHS England’s Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme and co-delivered by North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System Health Literacy team and Health Innovation North East North Cumbria.
What is health literacy?
Health literacy is about people being able to understand health information. It is about us making it easy for them to do this. It’s talking to patients using everyday words. It’s writing to them in a way that’s clear. This helps our patients make informed choices about their health.
Why is it important?
Understanding is key to making informed choices about health. But health, and the system, are complicated. We don’t explain them very well either. This makes it harder for people to understand their health and make those informed choices.
The average reading age of adults in the UK is around 9 to 11 years old. Half of adults find it hard to understand health information. That means half the people who get a prescription will struggle to understand it. This makes it harder for people to manage their wellbeing. And it creates unfair differences in people’s health.
People with low levels of health literacy:
- are more likely to die younger
- are more likely to have long-term conditions
- miss appointments more often
- find it hard to take medication correctly
- feel worried and angry
- struggle to look after their health effectively
What will you learn?
During this webinar you will find out:
- What health literacy is.
- Why it’s important.
- What we have been doing to make it better in the North East and North Cumbria.
- What training and resources are available to help you do health literacy.
- What you can do to help.
Who should attend?
- Anyone who communicates with patients and members of the public, either in clinical or non-clinical roles.
- Anyone working in health and care services, including GP surgeries, pharmacies, hospitals, mental health services, local authorities and the voluntary sector.
- Anyone who is interested in improving health communication and patient outcomes.
Webinar Date and Time:
Session 1: Tuesday 4th March 2025 at 1:00-3:00PM
Session 2: Monday 31st March 31 2025 at 1:00-3:00PM
You are welcome to join either session, as the content will be the same. If you are interested but cannot attend, please register for a ticket as well. We will keep you updated.
Meet our speakers:
Professor Bola Owolabi
Professor Bola Owolabi is Director of NHS England’s National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme and also works as a GP in the Midlands. She has particular interest in reducing healthcare inequalities through integrated care models, service transformation, and using data insights for quality improvement. She has spearheaded NHSE’s Core20PLUS5 approach to narrowing healthcare inequalities. This approach focuses support on the most deprived ‘Core 20’ percent of the population, ‘plus’ other underserved groups identified through local population health data (such as communities with minority ethnicity), and targets ‘5’ key clinical areas for priority improvement. Bola was previously National Speciality Advisor for Older People and Integrated Person-Centred Care at NHSE. She collaborated with teams across NHSE and DHSC as part of the Covid-19 pandemic response. Bola is an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Birmingham, and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Public Health.
Ryan Swiers
Ryan is a Consultant in Public Health at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust. He works a day a week for the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System leading a programme of work around Health Literacy. Ryan has worked in Public Health for almost 20 years including a number of years in both NHS and Local Authority settings. He completed Public Health training in the East Midlands where he spent time working within Specialised Commissioning and the Voluntary Sector as well as also enjoying placements in Rwanda and Australia. Ryan is a Senior Associate Editor for the journal Public Health and is the Deputy Faculty of Public Health Advisor for the North East as well as having a role as an Honorary Researcher with the University of Sunderland.
Emma Davidson
Emma manages the Regional Health Literacy Team for the North East and North Cumbria ICS. Emma has worked for the NHS for over 20 years. She brings a wealth of experience spanning continuous improvement, project management, public health and prevention. She is excited to manage the first regional health literacy team in the UK. She is leading pioneering health literacy work across numerous sectors within the integrated care system, ensuring it is evidence-based, scalable and community informed. Most importantly, she is passionate about ensuring that it makes a difference to patients and the community.
Lorna Dawson
Lorna has 2 health literacy jobs. She leads the team at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust. And she is the subject expert in the North East and North Cumbria ICS team. She helps organisations speak and write in a way that sounds more every day. Her aim is to make care fairer by making information clearer and easier to understand. Lorna’s team at STSFT have been shortlisted for lots of awards. This includes: an NHS Parliamentary Award, a Clinical Audit Heroes Award and a Royal Society of Public Health Award. She was co-vice chair of the NHS Library and Knowledge Services Health Literacy Community of Practice for 2 years. This was shortlisted for an award in sharing knowledge in 2022. (CILIP K&IM Award)
Leanne Kirkup
Leanne Kirkup is one of the Health Literacy Trainers in the North East and North Cumbria ICB. Her passion for helping others began with a career in Dentistry, where she worked for over 10 years. She started as a Dental Nurse then progressed to the role of Lead Nurse and later became a Regional Learning and Development Trainer for various roles within Dentistry. She then joined the NHS as a Health Literacy Trainer. Leanne is honoured to collaborate with colleagues to share her experience and knowledge on such an important topic. She is deeply committed to improving Health Literacy across the region.
Tracey Garbarino
Tracey Garbarino has extensive experience working in libraries and as a literacy coordinator, with a career spanning from Carlisle, the Great Border City, to Ho Chi Minh City. She is passionate about continuous learning, driven by a thirst for knowledge, and strongly believes that collaboration is the key to success. Tracey has been with the NHS for six years, and her role as a Health Literacy Trainer has allowed her to share her expertise and passions with others. She is dedicated to making a meaningful difference across the region.