This is the degree to which organisations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.

At Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust, we aim to promote organisational health literacy, and to this end we have drafted our ‘5 towers of health literacy’:

Leadership Core values Workforce Written information Verbal information

We will make health literacy integral to our everyday work (our mission, structure and operations).

We will integrate health literacy into patient safety, service planning, quality evaluation, and improvement initiatives.

Our workers know why health literacy is important and will be supported to use techniques that help patients understand and act on health information.

We will work WITH patients to keep messaging simple, and free from jargon. Texts, letters and emails will be accessible.

When talking to patients and cares, our staff will confirm understanding with them at regular intervals.