How do I keep a health record for my household?

The information asked for in the first two minutes of any medical emergency is always the same, and it is always asked when the person who knows it is unavailable or too unwell to answer. A single page per household member covers it. This is not a substitute for the NHS record, which already exists and is increasingly accessible to you — it is the summary somebody else can pick up.

Step by step

1. Write one page per person and keep it short.Full name and date of birth, NHS number, GP practice and telephone number, current medication with doses, allergies with what actually happened, significant conditions, past operations, and an emergency contact. One side of paper. Longer is not better here.
2. Get the allergies right and specific.Which drug or substance, what the reaction was, and how severe. "Allergic to penicillin" that actually means a childhood stomach upset leads to different clinical decisions from one that means anaphylaxis, and the difference matters.
3. List medication by name, strength and dose.Including anything bought over the counter, herbal remedies, supplements and anything injected or inhaled. Interactions with over-the-counter and herbal products are real and are routinely missed because nobody thinks to mention them.
4. Set up the medical ID on every phone in the house.Both major phone platforms have a medical information page reachable from the locked screen without a passcode. It is designed exactly for this and it is almost always empty.
5. Get access to the NHS record itself.The NHS App gives access to your GP record, prescriptions, test results and appointments in England, with equivalent services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Set it up before you need it, because registering takes identity verification and a little time.
6. Keep hospital letters and results in one place.Discharge summaries, clinic letters, test results and imaging reports. Scanned or in a folder. They are frequently the only accessible account of what happened, particularly across different trusts.
7. Record vaccinations, including the ones the GP may not hold.Childhood immunisations, boosters, travel vaccinations and tetanus. Travel and occupational vaccinations given privately often are not in the GP record at all, and the certificate is the only evidence.
8. Keep a separate record for anyone you care for.A parent, a child with a condition, anyone whose appointments you attend. Include who their consultants are, which department, and any hospital number, because that is what gets you through a switchboard.
9. Note who may be told what.Whether the GP may discuss a relative's care with you, whether a lasting power of attorney for health and welfare exists, and where it is. Without it, clinicians often cannot share information, and the moment you need it is not the moment to arrange it.
10. Review it whenever a prescription changes.An out-of-date medication list is worse than none, because it will be acted on. Tie the review to repeat prescription collection, which happens often enough to keep it current.

Tips

• Photograph the repeat prescription slip each time it is issued. It is an accurate, dated medication list produced for free.
• Take the written page to any hospital appointment. It saves ten minutes of recall and it is more accurate than memory under stress.
• If someone in the household has a serious allergy or a condition such as epilepsy or diabetes, medical alert jewellery communicates it when nobody can.
• Note the pharmacy as well as the GP. For a medication query out of hours, the pharmacy is frequently the faster route.
• Keep it with the household information file rather than in a drawer with medicines, so that someone looking for information finds it where information lives.

Questions people ask