Why, you ask? Because health literacy levels in this country are shockingly low – seriously, check out this map. Adults in the UK struggle to understand and interpret health information.

Read about Article 999’s mission to improve this (once there, click on the ‘about Article 999 for patients’ tab).

Article 999 is posting ‘what to do when’ style posts, tips and useful resources, and we are collating our own collection of resources including charities that offer mentoring. This collection is for you to search and learn and for clinicians to know what is out there to signpost you to. We have also had patient voices, including Alexandra Adams, posting about their health conditions to help others and to inform us from their own voice.

But we can’t do this alone. Article 999 is in need of patient voices – people who want to write about their experience of their health conditions and when they find they need to call emergency services, and what type of support they wish existed. We also need healthcare professionals including paramedics and physios who are keen to improve health literacy by providing carefully curated content that educates and improves understanding in our patients. Are you interested in these voluntary roles? If so, get in touch by emailing us at article999uk[at]gmail[dot]com. If you are an HCPC registered healthcare professional, remember that contributing to this project will help you achieve your updated HCPC standards of proficiency in relation to health promotion (standard 15.1). If you find it easier to have a certificate to upload as evidence of your contributions, we can provide one for you.