Crystal clear readability report

Healthwatch Buckinghamshire wanted to look at how easy it is for patients and the public in Buckinghamshire to read and understand important health and care information.

Healthwatch Buckinghamshire chose 15 different leaflets and documents to look at. A few each from Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, who have a lay panel in place that reviews patient information leaflets, the Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group, and Buckinghamshire County Council.

Healthwatch Buckinghamshire found some items were structured in a complicated way. In other cases, the items used difficult words or long/complex sentences or were impersonal. Others assumed people know or understand things that aren’t necessarily common knowledge among the target audience. Healthwatch Buckinghamshire felt that the leaflets didn’t always seem to think through the needs and capabilities of their target audience.

In summary Healthwatch Buckinghamshire conclude these documents should have some form of short, jargon free, easy-read summary. Healthwatch Buckinghamshire believe such a summary would also help busy health and social care professionals.

The report contains 6 recommendations in relation to information about writing public documents.