40% of patients misunderstand medicine

AROUND 40 per cent of adult patients have difficulty understanding their health and medicine requirements, NHS Lothian has said.

As part of a drive to get people more involved in their treatment, the health board said it was keen to improve upon "poor health literacy". Health chiefs said the more a patient knew about their illness, the more they could do to improve their own quality of life.

Kate Burton, a public health practitioner with the Edinburgh Community Health Partnership, said: "Health literacy is not just the ability to read and comprehend written medical information and instructions.

"It increases people's control over their own lives, their ability to seek out information and their ability to take responsibility for their health."