Welcome to My Health My Communication
DARE Disability Support and Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District created the My Health My Communication project, which launched in October 2020.
The project is about improving communication for people with disability when going to hospital. By improving communication, this project will directly improve health outcomes and the patient experience, and enable and empower health staff to better understand and meet people’s needs.
Contributions from people with disability, carers, support workers and hospital staff, allowed the project to gather essential data to identify key issues with communication and create solutions to address these.
Getting My Health Information Ready for Hospital
After two years of research and comprehensive consultation, the project launched the toolkit ‘Getting My Health Information Ready for Hospital’ in December 2022.
This free toolkit was developed by and for people with disability to share their important healthcare information when going to hospital or other health services.
My Health Information Handover Form
My Health Information for Emergency Services Wallet Card
Guidance notes for completion
The tools were developed to:
Enable people with disability to be more involved in their care
- Assist people to communicate their needs in an accessible format
- Improve communication between staff and person
- Communicate consistent information between multiple staff
- Improve the person’s hospital experience and outcomes
Graham | Project Team Member
Graham tells us what he thinks about the toolkit and how this helps people with disability as well as healthcare staff. Graham was part of the Project Team.
Getting My Health Information Ready for Hospital
After two years of research and comprehensive consultation, the project launched the toolkit ‘Getting My Health Information Ready for Hospital’ in December 2022.
This free toolkit was developed by and for people with disability to share their important healthcare information when going to hospital or other health services.
My Health Information Handover Form
My Health Information for Emergency Services Wallet Card
Guidance notes for completion
The tools were developed to:
Enable people with disability to be more involved in their care
- Assist people to communicate their needs in an accessible format
- Improve communication between staff and person
- Communicate consistent information between multiple staff
- Improve the person’s hospital experience and outcomes
My Health Information Handover Form
The My Health Information Handover Form is designed to assist people with a disability or communication need to let staff at hospital know important information about their support needs and choices when they go to hospital.
This form was developed based on a UK version called a hospital passport. The form is divided into the following sections and set out using a traffic light system, with the first section in red, covering the most important information to know about a person before providing care and treatment.
Things you must know about me
- Things that are important to me
- My likes and dislikes
Useful contacts
You can download the form, type in your information and then print the form. The form can also be printed and handwritten.
When you have completed the form, we suggest putting it in a document wallet, and keeping everything somewhere safe that you can easily grab should you need to go to hospital in a hurry.
Graham | Project Team Member
Graham tells us what he thinks about the toolkit and how this helps people with disability as well as healthcare staff. Graham was part of the Project Team.
My Health Information Handover Form
The My Health Information Handover Form is designed to assist people with a disability or communication need to let staff at hospital know important information about their support needs and choices when they go to hospital.
This form was developed based on a UK version called a hospital passport. The form is divided into the following sections and set out using a traffic light system, with the first section in red, covering the most important information to know about a person before providing care and treatment.
Things you must know about me
- Things that are important to me
- My likes and dislikes
Useful contacts
You can download the form, type in your information and then print the form. The form can also be printed and handwritten.
When you have completed the form, we suggest putting it in a document wallet, and keeping everything somewhere safe that you can easily grab should you need to go to hospital in a hurry.
My Health Information for Emergency Services Wallet Card
The Wallet Card can be used alongside the My Health Information Handover Form. It is designed to provide emergency services with some of the most vital information needed to provide care right away.
The Wallet Card is made from cardboard and folds in half allowing information to be hand written on four different sides and will fit easily in any wallet. The card should be kept with you at all times so it’s ready for an emergency.
The following information can be included:
- Things that are important for you to know about me and my healthcare needs
- Personal information such as name, phone, date of birth, medicare
- Emergency contacts and GP details
Note: this card is not available for download. Contact our office and cards will be posted to you. Please advise the quantity in your message.
The Wallet Card can be used alongside the My Health Information Handover Form. It is designed to provide emergency services with some of the most vital information needed to provide care right away.
The Wallet Card is made from cardboard and folds in half allowing information to be hand written on four different sides and will fit easily in any wallet. The card should be kept with you at all times so it’s ready for an emergency.
The following information can be included:
- Things that are important for you to know about me and my healthcare needs
- Personal information such as name, phone, date of birth, medicare
- Emergency contacts and GP details
Note: this card is not available for download. Contact our office and cards will be posted to you. Please advise the quantity in your message.
My Health Information for Emergency Services Wallet Card
Guidance notes for completion
Before completing your My Health Information Handover Form or Wallet Card, please read our guidance notes. The guide has instructions and prompts to help you think about things the hospital will need to know about you.
It also includes a ‘Ready to Go Checklist’ to help prepare everything that may be needed in case of an emergency visit to hospital.
Guidance notes for completion
Before completing your My Health Information Handover Form or Wallet Card, please read our guidance notes. The guide has instructions and prompts to help you think about things the hospital will need to know about you.
It also includes a ‘Ready to Go Checklist’ to help prepare everything that may be needed in case of an emergency visit to hospital.
Build Your Own Toolkit!
You can build your own toolkit using the document downloads above and wallet cards can be mailed out. Put everything into any kind of document wallet or folder that will keep all of your important information safe and ready to go in case of an emergency. The project used the Protext Attache File document wallet as it was large enough to fit other important documents and items such as communication aids and medication packs.
This project was originally funded as part of a NDIS Information, Linkages and Capacity Building Grant, where toolkits were provided in the document wallet and distributed to the local funded region of Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Hawkesbury and Nepean.
Read more about the project here
