12:11am, 21 Jan 2010 permission2shine

Health Literacy must first and foremost be about what people can do to prevent or reduce the likelihood of them developing chronic or serious health conditions. Also in this parents should be given the opportunity (especially those most disadvantaged) to learn about how to nuture children so that they can be mentally healthy. This is a critical starting point.

On the subject of literacy MANY HEALTH PROFESSIONALS need to 'get literate' on issues rather than firstly reaching for a prescription pad. I was appalled recently when my psychiatrist DID NOT KNOW basic molecular biology relating to mental illness - ie what impedes and what enhances healthy neural pathways. She was more than willing to dish out prescriptions and when this created horrendous side-effects including me becoming morbidly obese, had a blank look on her face when I asked exactly why it is that these pills were making me fat. I had to research online - eventually speaking to a research psychiatrist in the USA to find out what it was about these drugs that made me fat. I took this information back to her, but she maintained her position of she was the specialist, she knew best.

If I hadn't done my own research on these issues and then found safe ways to get off the drugs and what to do to maintain good mental health without the drugs, i would be well on my way to dying young from heart disease or cancer.

This experience has once again confirmed to me, after many years of being suspicious, that our health system is far too beholden to drug companies and that this is not necessarily going to make a person well. I am not anti-drugs, they have their place, but when we have physicians dishing them out like lollies without truly understanding what they do, then we are in trouble.

We need to get real Australia. We need to educate ourselves and not just take what is dished out to us as far as what may be best for our wellbeing.

Information is power. By finding out for ourselves with accurate, credible information we can make informed, up to date decisions about our own wellbeing. Currently the main people getting healthy (oops... I mean wealthy) out of our health system is the drug companies.

Above all else, PREVENTION is vital rather than having to find your way through thereafter. Of course not every illness is preventable, but many can be managed or endured more successfully when we as individuals are well informed.

12:27pm, 17 Jan 2010 advok8

It is essential that critical health literacy as defined by Don Nutbeam be the concept used here. The health literacy used by many is far too weak to address the health inequities currently being experienced by the most vulnerable in our society.

If the focus is not move to critical health literacy money and effort will be wasted.

3:14am, 16 Dec 2009 thewinchester

Mr Rudd and Ms Roxon: How about spending some of the $40 million currently budgeted for the clean feed on health literacy.

There's a wealth of opportunities yet to be explored by Government in the online space for communicating and making access available to health messages - and a $40 million investment in this and other areas would go a long way to providing platforms which would help to better communicate health message well into the future.

And while you're at it, how about opening up the massive data sets stored by Medicare on health providers to open reuse to enable innovators to take that information and make it more useful for the public.

I can see the day where you can instantly find health and allied health professionals in your area from a single place.

Having easy and ready access to this information assists in connecting consumers with health care professionals quickly and easily, allowing them to access health services, information and education at a time that its directly relevant to them.

6:35pm, 10 Dec 2009 elaineg

I think it should start even earlier than at home when we are young.

It seems to me that if you don't have the basic skills/knowledge yourself, how can you teach your children?

I agree with most of the comments but find that in the health industry, particularly the primary health area, that is mostly what we do, explain so people can make informed choices. However more and more people who are disenfranchised and lacking basic education are having the most children. This means the pool of knowledge is less and less.

How to arrest this being poor, being disenfranchised, poor literacy, having little or no hope is what we have to start to address.

How to do that is the biggest issue.

Parenting is at the heart of the start to it all, and assistance to learn to parent, as I know all people want is what we need to help.

What about all of us aging baby boomers who are going to be retiring soon? Maybe there could be a programme of giving back by teaching our parenting skills (if they were any good)?

A major problem for any long-term programme is the pollitical focus of each government on short term for vote attraction. the government with the most strenght to go the extra mile will make the difference.

11:34am, 08 Dec 2009 Cres

Health Literacy begins at home. Parents need to take responsibility to begin the process of promoting good health with their children. This can then be expanded on at school. I have looked at the comments to this blog and see that immediately we look outwards at someone else having to take responsibility to boost our health literacy. When do we begin the process of taking responsibility ourselves. I also believe there are some human service systems that require central coordination and health and education are prime examples. I would strongly support any moves by the Federal Govenment to centralise health and education. The States have consistently failed to perform to expectations. Australians have the right to expect the very best when it comes to health care and education and we know we can afford it.

7:57pm, 07 Dec 2009 alison

We need expertise in lifelong learning in the health system, so that health services plan to educate consumers about health as part of their treatments. Information needs to be provided at the level that consumers can understand and in an engaging manner.

10:12am, 26 Nov 2009 Colriley

To raise health literacy you have to start early. Introduce Home Economics, Basic physiology & biology into the primary school curriculum.

Home economics to feature food. That is food selection, purchase, transport, storage, preparation, cooking methods, presentation and hygiene.

Regrettably, that requires the lead time to train the educators before this can be introduced but in 30 years health literacy will be significantly improved.

3:29pm, 25 Nov 2009 HP

We recognise that maps are needed to navigate our road networks and our public transport systems and yet we dont have a 'road map' for one of our most complex systems of care which is health. Either we make it more simple for people to get what they need from the health system or you provide clear maps about who does what and where to go for help. You then have a back up that provides an information support service where people can call to get advice if they are struggling to understand the system. The other thing to recognise is that some people in our community (those with complex needs and chronic conditions) will benefit from service coordination models that provide support and follow up to ensure that people are less likely to slip through the gaps.

2:40pm, 25 Nov 2009 rotraut123

A problem with health literacy is few people realize their doctor is obliged to tell them what a prudent patient might ask. Many go to the doctors tell the doctor half the story and ask no questions how can this possibly assist their understanding or the doctors diagnosis.

If we went for any other service our expectations would be clear why are doctors and things we perhaps don't understand so different?

11:49pm, 24 Nov 2009 ruralnurse

I am a frontline healthcare provider. Sometimes I find it frustrating that I cannot explain fairly basic advice to people because they "simply do not understand" Australians should be educated in the basics of health, thus bettering their own lives. Fair enough, if I am talking to ,for instance a European backpacker, there will be problems just as there would be for us in Europe, but surely Aussies should have basic comprehenshion.

3:25pm, 24 Nov 2009 steve

Health literacy should be part of the educational curriculum and should be taught to our kids from the age of 5 through the whole of their schooling. What is the point of being able to read and count if you don't have your health?

3:03pm, 24 Nov 2009 claracmwa

1. Make the system easier to navigate. To a relative newcomer to Australia the system seems quite fragmented with multiple providers and no unifying vision. This makes it difficult to understand and know where to "enter" the system.

2. Perhaps create one "brand" which all public health providers can use and which private providers can apply for? Using this brand would mean the consumer would know the service meets a set of agreed standards and values and would create a "home" for all health related information. (See the NHS website - www.nhs.uk.)

3. Support "ambassadors" who can work with people who have complex health needs and need support from a range of providers - they could be accessed through the HealthDirect telephone number and assigned for people who have complex needs. They could also be consumers who can navigate through the system and who have time to spend with people who may be distressed or anxious - which can prevent people assimilating information well.