Health wallet

Personal medical information in an emergency

A ‘health wallet’ sounds like it would be a traditional binder containing paper sheets.

Well, it can be. But the term has now evolved to mean any practical method of making vital medical information quickly available to medics in a healthcare emergency.

How could I store ‘health wallet’ information?

Wear a bracelet or necklace engraved with vital information about a severe allergy or important medication.

Wearing a medical ID tag or bracelet (761kB pdf)

2. Keep health information on your mobile phone (paramedics know how to see it).

Keeping health information on your mobile phone (442kB pdf)

3. Keep helpful paperwork in a special envelope or document wallet (see next suggestion to make sure it is found)

4. Keep a Lions message pot in your fridge door telling where your health information is located (and stick the special label on front of fridge door)

Keeping health information in a Lion's fridge pot (193kB pdf)

5. Keep a similar message pot inside your car’s glove compartment (and stick a special label on the flap) (don’t forget paperwork)

What to include in your health wallet

If you choose the mobile phone option, the phone app will suggest what information to add – see ‘mobile phone sheet‘.

Suggested list

Your name, address, DoB, and NHS number so that registered medics can then confidentially request information from your medical record.
Hospital discharge and recent clinic appointment letters – indicates your condition, treatment, progress/deterioration.
Copy of recent ECG trace – Useful for checking whether observed abnormalities are recent or old.
Pacemaker or ICD card – You are advised to carry your card at all times so that paramedics are alerted.
How you currently describe / explain / manage the details of your condition / treatment – Significance of changing symptoms, check up/review dates, nature of teams involved, what appropriate abbreviations mean (trainees may not yet know all of these).
Current list of medications and known allergies – What are the medications prescribed for? Any recent medication / dose changes? Food or drug allergies and severity?
Who to contact in an emergency – Person’s name and contact number.

Consider some of the situations that might crop up where a health wallet is important…

You have a non-emergency medical appointment and know you might find it difficult to remember answers to some questions you may be asked.
You trip in the street, banging your head, bleeding and feeling dazed. An ambulance arrives and paramedics notice your medical bracelet. This tells them about your pacemaker and anti-coagulant tablets for atrial fibrillation. They phone your daughter for details and she then goes straight to the hospital to be with you.
When they arrive at your flat, ambulance crew notice the special sticker behind your front door and know there is a message pot in your fridge. They read the message telling them where to find your health papers.
Try to imagine details of some situation where a mobile phone is used to give vital information to an emergency responder.

What if I have to call an ambulance from home?

1. Call 999 and listen carefully to the person who answers your call.
2. Don’t go upstairs and don’t go to the toilet if you can avoid it.
3. If possible, unlatch front door ready for ambulance crew to enter.
4. Leave lights on.
5. If somebody is with you maybe they could watch for the ambulance and beckon the crew to your door.