Health Passport

WE MAKE INCLUSION HAPPEN by developing resources to empower people with disability to help healthcare workers keep them safe and healthy.  

Health policy consultants Human Capital Alliance (HCA) were engaged by the ACT Government to develop a resource package that will facilitate the process of consumers with disabilities and their family or carers to work alongside healthcare workers to promote timely access to evidence-based healthcare and to help to avoid preventable harm.  The particular risks faced by people who have difficulties with communication are a core focus for this project but the resources will be useful for a wide range of people with disability. 

A working group of volunteers from the People With Disabilities ACT (PWD ACT) membership and the PWD ACT health Project Officer have worked with HCA staff to consider a wide range of national and international best practice resources and are finalising the proposed structure and content of a resource package to meets the needs of ACT consumers. 

The resource package has been designed to assist patients with disability to help healthcare workers keep them safe and healthy. 

The resource package has capacity for personalisation in ways that will promote communication with healthcare providers and has three parts: 

• a section that contains core health and relevant social information (including prompts for supported decision-making) and routine prevention-focused health care (primary care)
• a section that is more like the health passports that are widely used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for hospital admission and discharge procedures (where evidence shows there are major risks to be mitigated, particularly for those who experience difficulty with communication), and
• a section on health system navigation and health literacy promotion (eg tips on access to primary care and information on evidence-based tools such as the CHAPS tool from the University of Queensland that prompts GPs to proactively monitor a range of known health risks for people with disabilities). 

The package has been designed to be downloaded, printed and used flexibly and cheaply by health care consumers according to their particular needs. This resource will be made available online soon.  

Further information

Human Capital Alliance

University of Hertfordshire - Intellectual Disability and Health - Passport to Health

Capital & Coast District Health Board, New Zealand - What is a Health Passport?