Matlock

Health literacy is crucial for understanding how to access healthcare and receive appropriate help, especially for people with lower education or from poorer areas who often face worse health outcomes. This research focuses on improving verbal communication between healthcare staff and service users to help users better understand and act on health advice, aiming to reduce health inequalities in Derbyshire. The study evaluates training for healthcare staff in verbal health literacy techniques and examines if this leads to better service user outcomes. Healthcare staff from two services—the local authority Weight Management Programme and the NHS Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme—will participate. Selected staff will receive a two-hour training session on verbal health literacy techniques, including simple language use, 'Teachback', and 'Chunk and check', supported by a Health Literacy Officer. The Weight Management Programme runs weekly sessions for 12 weeks, while the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme runs twice-weekly sessions for 6 weeks. Trained and untrained staff will deliver these programmes, allowing comparison. Participants will complete questionnaires before and after the programmes, and routine data such as weight and respiratory health will be collected. Staff knowledge, skills, and confidence will be assessed before and after training, with observations and focus groups conducted to understand training impact and usage. Data will be collected over several months, comparing current results with previous years to evaluate the effectiveness of the verbal health literacy training and its influence on health outcomes.