The right to health is a fundamental right in the Scandinavian welfare states. One of the fundamental prerequisites to realizing the right to health is sup- porting the health literacy of the individual patient in the health care system. Health literacy describes the patients’ abilities and prerequisites for caring for their health along with the supports needed to access, understand, appraise and use health information and services to make decisions about their health.
Supporting health literacy is especially crucial for vulnerable patients who often have one or more chronic diseases that they need to live with and manage to the best of their abilities. Using the case of psychiatric patients, this article highlights examples of how health authorities and law makers can support the health literacy of vulnerable patients through greater accessibility in health care services and through health care constructions that empower the patient to care for their health. It is argued that health literacy needs to be a focal point in the health care system on the same level as the actual care that is provided
by the health care professionals. The patients will in many cases be in charge of managing their own health care and supporting and educating the individual patient is a fundamental obligation for the health care system as health literacy is intertwined with basic rights such as the right to health, the right to informa- tion and the right to self-determination.