Did you know that the average reading age of adults in the UK is around 9 to 11 years? Yet many healthcare documents are written at a much higher reading level, making them harder to understand. The NHS Document Readability Tool has been developed to help address this challenge by making it easier to create clear, accessible health information.
What is the NHS Document Readability Tool?
The NHS Document Readability Tool is a free online resource that analyses text and estimates its UK reading age. It can help you identify elements of your writing that may make documents difficult to understand, including:
- Complex sentences
- Passive language
- Complex words
- Long words
- Long paragraphs and sentence structures
The tool also provides useful metrics such as reading age, average reading time, word count and sentence length.
🔗 Try it here: https://readability.ncldata.dev/
How can it help NHS staff?
Whether you're creating:
- Patient information leaflets
- Appointment letters
- Trust website content
- Service information
- Consent information
- Staff communications
the readability tool can help ensure your message is clear and accessible to a wider audience.
Simply paste your text into the tool, review the highlighted areas, make improvements, and see how the reading age changes in real time.
Top Tips for Improving Readability
The tool works best when combined with good health literacy principles:
✅ Use plain English wherever possible
✅ Keep sentences short
✅ Use active rather than passive language
✅ Break information into manageable chunks
✅ Avoid jargon, acronyms and technical terminology where possible
✅ Check understanding using techniques such as Chunk and Check or Teach-Back
Give it a Try
As part of Health Literacy Awareness Month, why not test one of your existing patient-facing documents in the NHS Document Readability Tool?
Small changes to the way we write can make a big difference to how well people understand their health information, helping patients make informed decisions and take a more active role in their care.
Further Resources
- NHS Document Readability Tool: https://readability.ncldata.dev/
- Health Literacy Place: https://healthliteracyplace.org.uk
- NHS England Health Literacy resources: https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/health-literacy/
