What are Hospital Passports?

A Hospital Passport is a short 2-4 page document designed to help autistic people communicate their needs to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. It is sometimes also referred to as a Health Passport.

The idea is that if you, or your child, has to go into a hospital this one small document will explain all their basic needs: their sensory needs, their communication needs, and how they express pain. You know basically everything someone needs to know to treat them.

I have a hospital passport myself, and mine is only two pages. My suggestion is you use the below links as a guide and make yours shorter or simply remove needed sections from the below templates.
Having taught a many care staff I hear them tell me over and over that “healthcare professionals don’t look at them”. This is why I advise making them as short and to the point as possible and physically handing them to them at the point of contact. I’d also suggest making them solution-focused for example rather than just saying “sound hurts his/my ears” say “sound hurts his/my ears and so I need to wear headphones”. That way you’re giving them the solution to the issue.

Here’s the NHS one:
https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/patients-visitors/disabled-facilities/patients-with-a-learning-disability/hospital-passport/

Here’s The National Autistic Society’s one:
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/physical-health/my-health-passport

If your loved one is at risk due to physical behaviours or of hospitalisation and you need some advice you can reach out to us at Autism Central here.  If you need to talk to me directly please mention “Loren Snow” on the form.

You can also hear more from me by visiting my website here: neurodiversetraining.org and by subscribing to my mailing list here.