Health bosses and the leader of Bradford Council have made a plea for public documents to be written in plain English, rather than jargon-heavy “gobbledegook”.

At a meeting yesterday, one health professional confessed she often turned to Easy Read versions, written for people with learning difficulties in mind, to understand what was being said.

The comments were made as the Bradford and Airedale Health and Wellbeing Board was discussing a report on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), a road map document setting out the health needs of the district.

Reports describing this document, and changes that could be made to it, included phrases such as:

  • “Stakeholders are invited to comment on the viability and method by which the JSNA might better reflect an asset-based approach to describing a district and a comprehensive and balanced picture of place?”
  • “It is recommended that we develop a core indicator set to monitor key indicators over time. This should be linked to the various Outcome Frameworks.”
  • “It is recommended that we make greater, but still intelligent and parsimonious, use of the wealth of epidemiological data that can be found within existing but as yet untapped sources of data.”

Board chairman and Council leader, Councillor David Green, said: “Just in general terms, about the JSNA and other documents: I get briefed and I struggle with these documents, because I come from a different world than the health side.

“These are public documents. I do think we need to get better at making them understandable to lay people.”

He said the Council’s press team could help, as they often had to translate “when we write in political gobbledegook”.

Sue Cannon, NHS area commissioning team director, asked for an Easy Read version of the assessment to be written.

She said: “In all complicated documents I always go to the Easy Read document first. Three or four pages encapsulates it, with pictures, and it helps you understand what it is.”

Emmerson Walgrove, of Healthwatch Bradford and District, which represents the public, agreed it was important such documents were available in an “accessible format”.

But Greg Fell, consultant in public health, who was leading the discussion, said the idea of an Easy Read version had been considered but rejected.

He said there was a concern that it could be too “reductionist”.

After the meeting, a spokesman for the Plain English Campaign, which champions clear language, said: “It’s not sufficient to say it’s difficult, and therefore the language has got to be difficult.

“If it’s difficult, and it’s important, then the language has to be clear. The public demands it.

“The Plain English Campaign would support Bradford Council in demanding this document be written in plain English. If the writer of this document would like to get in touch with the Plain English Campaign, we would be delighted to help.”