Having set out the general case for moving away from the old fashioned idea that value in health care can only be found by buying more medical staff, kit or drugs, I have suggested that investment in patient health literacy would increase the value they contribute to their own care. This would, as a consequence,  add value to the NHS as a whole and help change its resource base at this time of austerity.

But creating this value for the NHS, as with most value creation, actually costs some real money. I am certain that the value that patients could create for the NHS far outstrips the amount that would have to be spent to create it, but there is a concrete economic case that needs to be made.