If you missed the health literacy awareness raising sessions towards the end of 2018, more sessions are being planned for this year.

Volunteers for ‘train the trainer’ have been working with Community Health and Learning Foundation trainers and Health Education England Library Leads so they can roll out more sessions across the North. The day equipped the participants with the skills and background knowledge required to become accredited trainers for health literacy awareness. Here’s a reflection from Paula (Library Manager, Bolton NHS FT).

“I hadn’t originally planned to follow up the day I attended in York back in November 2018, but a place became available so I made the return journey and was glad I did.

The morning was an in-depth look at the slides we would be working with. Helen Baker from CHL Foundation and Joanne Naughton NHS LKS Development Manager North East had some really good insights, with lots of tips on how best to present the information in an engaging way. I was a little apprehensive about how much of this content had stayed with me, but I had actually retained more than I thought.

After lunch and a swift look at the trains in the Main Hall at the National Railway Museum (great venue even if you don’t like trains), we worked through some of the activities. It was really interesting to think about these from the facilitator’s point of view and understand the way they are delivered to maximise learning.

I’m really looking forward to co-delivering a session for library colleagues later this year.”

So, we now have a Northern Team of accredited health literacy awareness trainers ready for action! We want to raise awareness about the impact of low health literacy and also introduce some practical ideas of how healthcare library staff can get involved. We are hoping to reach all services and all staff groups. Here are the dates we have planned so far, so make a note of a date that suits you and watch out for booking details coming soon:

June 11th Lancaster
June 25th Newcastle
June 24th Durham
June 28th Leeds
July 10th York
July 17th Liverpool


Joanne Naughton – Health Education England
Paula Elliott – Bolton NHS Foundation Trust