THE ROYAL Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded the LILAC Conference Information Literacy award.
It was given the award to recognise its library and knowledge services, which collaborated on a pilot project promoting health literacy in over-16s in schools.
Health literacy describes the ability of a person or group to use and understand information and services to make informed decisions about their health.
Figures shared by the trust show that 43% of people in England are considered health illiterate, and rising to 61% when including lack of numeracy, the ability to read health data.
Victoria Harrison, Deputy Library & Knowledge Services Manager, said “We really appreciate the recognition of our project.
“It’s been fantastic to see the impact that our work has had, and the team has gained such an understanding of how we should be targeting health information.
“We’ve already started presenting our learnings to other libraries, and we have more plans for how to develop the project in the future.”
The Royal Berkshire Trust funded the project through a bid to the Health Education Committee.
It aimed to raise awareness of health information in the young people and their tutors alongside raising the profile of health literacy more broadly.
It is also providing training to students and clinicians based on the project’s work, with similar schemes now being developed elsewhere.
Don Fairley, chief people officer at the Trust, said “This award is a great reflection of the dedication and innovation that our Library & Knowledge Services display and of what can be achieved when we work together with other organisations like the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
“I’m particularly keen to see where this project goes next.”
