Health words

Also called Medical vocabulary, Illness words, Health set

Ill, tired, sick, medicine, doctor, better, worse. The words for saying you are unwell, understanding what is being done about it, and refusing some of it.

What it is

Health words are the vocabulary of being unwell and being treated: ill, sick, tired, dizzy, cold, hot, pain, medicine, tablet, doctor, nurse, dentist, hospital, injection, plaster, better, worse, same. They sit beside body parts, which say where, and add what is wrong and what should happen.

They are also the vocabulary of consent to treatment. "Medicine" plus "no", "injection" plus "why", "doctor" plus "when" are the sentences that make a patient a participant.

Who it can help

Everyone who ever gets ill, and most of all people who see a lot of health professionals: people with a learning disability, people with long-term conditions, older adults, children with complex needs. Health words are used at the GP, the pharmacy, the dentist, on the ward and in the ambulance, and each of those places is worse without them.

They are a vocabulary, not a diagnosis tool. A person saying "sick" is telling you something; what it means is the clinician's job. And they are of little use if the professional will not wait for the device; see communication at the GP for the rights a patient has there.

How it works

A health set carries the symptoms (ill, sick, tired, dizzy, itchy, cough, pain), the people (doctor, nurse, dentist, carer), the things (medicine, tablet, injection, plaster, bandage, inhaler) and the outcomes (better, worse, same, more, finished). The outcome words are the ones professionals most need and boards most often lack: "is it better?" is the question every clinician asks and few boards can answer.

Degree matters: "a bit", "very", "worse", "worst" turn a symptom into something a clinician can act on. Time words help: "since" plus "yesterday", "always", "again".

The Talk board keeps the health words with its feelings and needs sets, and the describing cards give degree, so "very" plus "sick" and "a bit" plus "better" are both two presses.

Getting started

This week, add "better", "worse" and "same" to the board if they are missing, and use them after every dose of anything: "medicine" plus "better?". Model health words about yourself when you have a cold.

Put a short health page in the person's hospital passport or communication passport: how they say pain, how they say no, what "tired" looks like.

Before an appointment, rehearse the sentence the person wants to say to the doctor, and tell the surgery in advance that they use a device and will need time.

Where to get help

The NHS must meet communication needs under the Accessible Information Standard; ask the practice or hospital to record the person's needs. Mencap has guidance on health and annual health checks for people with a learning disability. Communication Matters for AAC. For urgent advice, NHS 111; in an emergency, 999, and see contacting 999.