Health Literacy Report from an Royal College of General Practitioners led health literacy workshop.

In view of the importance of health literacy to patients and the NHS, NHS England sponsored a meeting, hosted by Clinical Innovation and Research Centre (CIRC) in collaboration with Dr Gill Rowlands, the Chair of the SAPC Health Literacy specialist group.

The aim of the meeting was to facilitate discussion about the important principles around health literacy relevant to primary care. Central to the discussion was a shared understanding of what is meant by the term 'health literacy' and to formulate a number of recommendations.

Low health literacy is a problem for everyone; even in the least deprived areas there is still a significant proportion of the population that cannot understand health materials. Through the Health Literacy Report the College is urging the medical profession to avoid using medical jargon when speaking to patients about their health.