Frequently Asked Questions

All the free-to-download versions of My Chronic Health & Care Passport can be downloaded as many times as you need them, providing you are doing so to give them to your patients or service users at no charge, with the aim of improving their health and social care outcomes and communication.

You may also photocopy the booklets and pages, and any of the accompanying extra pages, posters, and guides for the same reasons.

You MUST NOT reproduce any of the pages in your own projects without express prior permission.

You MUST NOT print or photocopy any of the booklet pages or elements for resale.

You MUST NOT distribute the paid-for custom theme options if you have purchased one, unless you have specifically ordered a custom branded version for your organisation that comes with a license to print them for your service users. These must be given to your patients free of charge, but if you are a registered charity then you may give people the option of making a voluntary donation.

My Chronic Health & Care Passport is a set of patient-held noted that form a short history of your chronic illness or disability. It explains how you manage day to day and the help you might need if you were admitted to hospital, and provides you with guides on packing a hospital bag or asking questions at important appointments. It is designed to help you organise your healthcare information and explain it to the people who are treating you, even if you are in a lot of pain, extremely fatigued, or are having difficulty communicating or remembering the information you need to convey.

All the free-to-download versions of the Chronic Health & Care Passport can be downloaded as many times as you need them, providing you are doing so to give them to your patients or service users at no charge, with the aim of improving their health and social care outcomes and communication.

You may also photocopy the booklets and pages, and any of the accompanying extra pages, posters, and guides for the same reasons.

You MUST NOT reproduce any of the pages in your own projects without express prior permission.

You MUST NOT print or photocopy any of the booklet pages or elements for resale.

You MUST NOT distribute the paid-for custom theme options if you have purchased one, unless you have specifically ordered a custom branded version for your organisation that comes with a license to print them for your service users.

The Chronic Health & Care Passport is a set of patient-held noted that form a short history of your chronic illness or disability, explain how you manage day to day and the help you might need if you were admitted to hospital, and provide you with guides on packing a hospital bag or asking questions at important appointments. It is designed to help you organise your healthcare information and explain it to the people who are treating you, even if you are in a lot of pain, extremely fatigued, or are having difficulty communicating or remembering the information you need to convey.

We believe that patients who play an active role in the management of their health foster more productive relationships with their medical teams, which in turn leads to better outcomes. Health and social care institutions are not always welcoming places and many people feel intimidated or confused. Others have been jaded by past experiences and have been left feeling unheard. More still are afraid of being admitted to hospital because it can be difficult to explain the intricate routines that chronically ill people craft at home to survive their raft of symptoms. We're seeking to address all those barriers to communication by helping patients understand and explain their health and care needs, and feel more in control of the conversations they have about it with the people caring for them.

If you ever find yourself flustered or rushed through an appointment, or struggling with brain-fog that makes it difficult to articulate your needs, then there are things in the booklet that could help you. If you get frustrated having to repeat your medical history, diagnoses, or the impact those conditions have on you when you go into hospital, or find it difficult to talk about the care you need, then there are sections that could make that easier, too.

If you're new to having a chronic illness or disability and you are overwhelmed by all the new medication, different doctors, and various procedures you're undergoing, then this can help you keep track. If you're an old hand at it all but find hospital admissions laborious because there's so much information to try and explain (and you often need to do it while inelegantly spewing into a cardboard bowl at 2am in a busy A&E department) then MCHCP can help. (With the explanation, not the nausea. Sorry.)

It can also be an invaluable resource if you are trying to explain complex care needs to a new carer or PA. They will have a lot to learn and it can be very useful to have that information broken down by subject and cause.

Some people will want to use it as part of their routine treatment, and for others it will just be a backup in case of emergencies. However you use it, just make sure to keep your current medication and contact numbers up to date.

If you ever find yourself flustered or rushed through an appointment, or struggling with brain-fog that makes it difficult to articulate your needs, then there are things in the booklet that could help you. If you get frustrated having to repeat your medical history, diagnoses, or the impact those conditions have on you when you go into hospital, or find it difficult to talk about the care you need, then there are sections that could make that easier, too.If you're new to having a chronic illness or disability and you are overwhelmed by all the new medication, different doctors, and various procedures you're undergoing, then this can help you keep track.If you're an old hand at it all but find hospital admissions laborious because there's so much information to try and explain (and you often need to do it while inelegantly spewing into a cardboard bowl at 2am in a busy A&E department) then the CHCP can help with that too. (The explanation, not the nausea. Sorry.)

Some people will want to use it as part of their routine treatment, and for others it will just be a backup in case of emergencies. However you use it, just make sure to keep your current medication and contact numbers up to date.

We believe that patients who play an active role in the management of their health foster more productive relationships with their medical teams, which in turn leads to better outcomes. Health and social care institutions are not always welcoming places and many people feel intimidated or confused. Others have been jaded by past experiences and have been left feeling unheard. More still are afraid of being admitted to hospital because it can be difficult to explain the intricate routines that chronically ill people craft at home to survive their raft of symptoms. We're seeking to address all those barriers to communication by helping patients understand and explain their health and care needs, and feel more in control of the conversations they have about it with the people caring for them.

Yes! Not all the healthcare professionals you meet will have the time to read through it, and there will be certain settings - such as when you have a 10 minute slot with your GP - where it may not be practical for them to use it. But it still has a place in helping you make notes on the things you want to address to make the most of that appointment, and it can help you to think about what you need from your appointment before you arrive so that you use the limited time as well as possible.

Not everyone in healthcare is receptive to patient-held notes, or even patient-led treatment, but that is slowly changing. The more you use your CHCP the more likely you are to help those who care for you to see the beneficial impact it can have on your ability to cope with the challenges you face.

Yes! Not all the healthcare professionals you meet will have the time to read through it, and there will be certain settings - such as when you have a 10 minute slot with your GP - where it may not be practical for them to use it at all. But it still has a place in helping you make notes on the things you want to address to get the most from that appointment, and it can help you to think about what you need from your appointment before you arrive so that you use the limited time as well as possible.

In many healthcare settings it will be more beneficial if you refer your medical team to specific pages, as there are very few settings where there is time to read it all. Remember that it's a cheat-sheet; not a novel! In the same way you would refer to only the specific chapter you need in a product manual, MCHCP is designed to be an at-a-glance guide to the problem at hand and the context your wider medical history gives to its management.

Not everyone in healthcare is receptive to patient-held notes, or even patient-led treatment, but that is slowly changing. The more you use your CHCP the more likely you are to help those who care for you to see the beneficial impact it can have on your ability to cope with the challenges you face.

Just head to the Downloads section and click on the version you want to download. Your PDF will download automatically.

Whether you are downloading the PDF file onto a phone or a computer, it should then be saved in the Downloads section of your device's Files.

So that the MCHCP benefits the most people we have tried to keep the categories quite broad, but leave enough room for customisation. This may mean that some people don't feel like a page has exactly what they need, or that they have to write more in the 'other' boxes instead of the more convenient tick-box options, but we hope that everyone can find a way to make the booklet work for them. Check out our customisation tips in the Guides section for our favourite hacks.

If you think there's something we've neglected to include which would be a useful addition to future versions, please Contact Us with "Suggestion" in the subject line.

There are currently two main sizes of the My Chronic Health & Care Passport: Standard and Large Print. They each come in two different editions: colour and high contrast. A5 Size Booklets

These print on both sides of a sheet of A4 paper and contain two MCHCP pages per side. When folded down the middle they form an A5 booklet.

• UK Standard Edition (colour)

• UK High Contrast Edition (black & white)

A4 Size Booklets

These print on both sides of a sheet of A4 paper and contain one MCHCP page per side. They remain unfolded so are twice the size of the A5 version and print on twice as many sheets of paper. The text is larger (mostly 18pt) and the title fonts are clearer.

• UK Large Print Edition (colour)

• UK High Contrast Edition (black & white)

We hope to add a Fillable PDF edition of each version soon, and then follow that with an International Edition in the future.

Please check that you have downloaded the Digital PDF Edition not one of the Printable versions. If you're still having problems, please head over to our Facebook Group for help.

We're aiming to have a few booklets printed for people who really need it to be done for them, but would have to charge cost price plus postage for them.

Until then, we suggest that you print the pages on single sides of paper and then cut down the grey centre-fold line. You can then arrange the pages into a stack and use a holepunch or stapler along the left edge to secure them. Using a holepunch with a string treasury tag/toggle allows the pages more room to open up more.

If you are going to arrange your booklet like this then we suggest filling it in before you join the pages together, but be careful not to write anything too close to the edge on that side.

Your booklet will be much thicker than the double-sided version so you may find that staples from a household stapler will not go through it.

Just head to the Downloads section and click on the version you want to download. Your PDF will download automatically.

Whether you are downloading the PDF file onto a phone or a computer, it should then be saved in the Downloads section of your device's Files.

We do not currently have a Fillable PDF Edition available. We're hoping to bring it to you soon, as we know how important it is for many patients and aim to make MCHCP as accessible as possible to everyone. Limited energy and resources have meant that we cannot get it ready as quickly as we would like. All the software that makes it simple to create fillable PDFs is, unfortunately, out of our price range while we are still completely self-funded.

Should we receive donations toward our operating costs, then this will be the first thing we bring you.

As all Printers are different it's very tricky to answer this question, but we have found that printing from the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader works well. On the main print screen set the size to "fill" and make sure you check the "print on both sides" option or similar. You want to set the orientation to "landscape", and to "flip on short edge". You can also check the save ink/toner box which results in a lighter, more economical booklet that is still colourful and easy to read.Then in the Printing Properties you'll need to ensure that on the 'Features' tab "manual" is selected from the two-sided printing drop down menu, with "preserve layout" checked too. You should also see an option for making sure it is in "landscape" here, too, and for previewing the print before you finalise it. This can be useful to make sure everything is in order. Under the 'Printing Shortcuts' tab you should now see that A4 paper size (unless you're printing an international edition) is selected, with landscape and manual options listed too.

If you are not printing from Adobe Acrobat Reader, or your printer has different options, try googling the manual duplex printing settings for your model, or asking in our Facebook Group.

I'm afraid we cannot provide individual technical assistance due to our own limited energy and lack of resources.

We're aiming to have a few booklets printed for people who really need it to be done for them, but would have to charge cost price plus postage for them.

Until then, we suggest that you print the pages on single sides of paper and then cut down the grey centre-fold line. You can then arrange the pages into a stack and use a holepunch or stapler along the left edge to secure them. Using a holepunch with a string treasury tag/toggle allows the pages more room to open up more.

If you are going to arrange your booklet like this then we suggest filling it in before you join the pages together, but be careful not to write anything too close to the edge on that side.

Your booklet will be much thicker than the double-sided version so you may find that staples from a household stapler will not go through it.

We only ever share information that we have been given permission to use but if you've changed your mind then please Contact Us. Please tell us your name, which content you wish to have removed (eg: a photo or testimonial) and where you have seen it posted (eg: Instagram or this site). A link to the post or page your content is displayed on will help us to find it and remove it more quickly.

As all Printers are different it's very tricky to answer this question, but we have found that printing from the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader works well. On the main print screen set the size to "fill" and make sure you check the "print on both sides" option or similar. You want to set the orientation to "landscape", and to "flip on short edge". You can also check the save ink/toner box which results in a lighter, more economical booklet that is still colourful and easy to read.Then in the Printing Properties you'll need to ensure that on the 'Features' tab "manual" is selected from the two-sided printing drop down menu, with "preserve layout" checked too. You should also see an option for making sure it is in "landscape" here, too, and for previewing the print before you finalise it. This can be useful to make sure everything is in order. Under the 'Printing Shortcuts' tab you should now see that A4 paper size (unless you're printing an international edition) is selected, with landscape and manual options listed too.

If you are not printing from Adobe Acrobat Reader, or your printer has different options, try googling the manual duplex printing settings for your model, or asking in our Facebook Group.

I'm afraid we cannot provide individual technical assistance due to our own limited energy and lack of resources.

Please either Email us, choosing 'Suggestion' or 'Correction' as the subject, or use the Contact form. We're always happy to hear from you with new ideas and are ready to learn and improve if there's something we're not getting quite right.

We completely understand that it's not possible to go through a patient's Chronic Health & Care Passport in most outpatient settings, which is why it has been primarily designed for use in hospital to help with filling out the admission forms and with explaining their history if they're struggling with symptoms and cannot offer an articulate response, but can point to relevant pages. It may also be useful when seeking a private referral, or getting to know a new care agency.

In primary care settings, if your patient is calm, comfortable, and able to answer questions about their history then you probably don't need it, but they may find it easier to explain the jumble of side-effects or the ways they need help if they can refer to their notes or the suggested questions. All too often we hear of patients leaving appointments where they felt as rushed or overwhelmed as their doctors frequently feel. They lament not having asked the questions that they most needed answers to, or forgetting to mention a troubling symptom because they were side-tracked by suggestions to counter another and are worried they won't get another chance to ask for months. We hope that our booklet will help patients feel more prepared for their appointment and that it will encourage them to think about what they need from it before they arrive. We want to help patients to help you, so that you can help them.It also encourages the patient to regularly update their current medication list, so that they have all that information to hand if you need it.Not all doctors feel that there is a place for patient-held notes, and the Chronic Health & Care Passport is certainly no full record of ongoing treatment or replacement for proper hospital notes. It is meant to help bring some clarity when communication is difficult; due to anxiety, frustration, pain, confusion, or anything else that prevents the person with a chronic illness or disability from effectively conveying the information that they want you to have, or which you desperately need in order to help.

By listing the ways their illness or disability affects them day to day, you may find that viewing the page with the patient allows you to ask more appropriate questions and offer treatments that have the most beneficial impact. There's no set way to interact with the CHCP, for the patient or their healthcare team.

We completely understand that it's not possible to go through a patient's Chronic Health & Care Passport in most outpatient settings, which is why it has been primarily designed for use in hospital to help with filling out the admission forms and with explaining their history if they're struggling with symptoms and cannot offer an articulate response, but can point to relevant pages. It may also be useful when seeking a private referral, or getting to know a new care agency.

In primary care settings, if your patient is calm, comfortable, and able to answer questions about their history then you probably don't need it, but they may find it easier to explain the jumble of side-effects or the ways they need help if they can refer to their notes or the suggested questions. All too often we hear of patients leaving appointments where they felt as rushed or overwhelmed as their doctors frequently feel. They lament not having asked the questions that they most needed answers to, or forgetting to mention a troubling symptom because they were side-tracked by suggestions to counter another and are worried they won't get another chance to ask for months. We hope that our booklet will help patients feel more prepared for their appointment and that it will encourage them to think about what they need from it before they arrive. We want to help patients to help you, so that you can help them.It also encourages the patient to regularly update their current medication list, so that they have all that information to hand if you need it.Not all doctors feel that there is a place for patient-held notes, and the Chronic Health & Care Passport is certainly no full record of ongoing treatment or replacement for proper hospital notes. It is meant to help bring some clarity when communication is difficult; due to anxiety, frustration, pain, confusion, or anything else that prevents the person with a chronic illness or disability from effectively conveying the information that they want you to have, or which you desperately need in order to help.

By listing the ways their illness or disability affects them day to day, you may find that viewing the page with the patient allows you to ask more appropriate questions and offer treatments that have the most beneficial impact. There's no set way to interact with the CHCP, for the patient or their healthcare team.

We're hoping to have a few printed booklets to distribute to healthcare settings soon, but they are reliant on donations. Check our VIP List for details on the healthcare organisations who have signed up to be friends of our scheme.

We're also aiming to do a few print runs per year, and those copies will be on sale in our shop. Sign up to our newsletter to be notified when the pre-order list opens.

Many of the people this booklet will help most may struggle to complete it without help. If they do not have family, friend, or carer support to do it then consider referring them to support groups in their area or charities involved in supporting people with their diagnosis who may have advocacy services. Many charities are accustomed to helping fill in forms for Disability Benefits and may have the resources to help with this, too.

Many of the people this booklet will help most may struggle to complete it without help. If they do not have family, friend, or carer support to do it then consider referring them to support groups in their area or charities involved in supporting people with their diagnosis who may have advocacy services. Many charities are accustomed to helping fill in forms for Disability Benefits and may have the resources to help with this, too.

Yes, providing you are only printing copies for yourself (or your healthcare organisation).

If you are having them printed on behalf of a health or social care organisation then make sure they are signed up to the VIP List, and that the copies you distribute are going to be given away to their service users for free.

If they are a registered charity then they may request postage costs from members receiving the booklets providing they make provision for those to whom any payment would be a barrier. They may also accept voluntary donations from those receiving printed booklets, but only if the payment is optional.

Printing My Chronic Health & Care Passport for commercial gain, or reproducing it in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.

Thank you for being so receptive to the CHCP! If you can print copies out for your patients that will make it much easier for anyone with limited mobility, cognitive impairment, or fatigue. Being prepared to walk them through the process of filling it in if they are confused or overwhelmed can help too, but if you do not have the time or resources for that then please see our step-by-step guides where they can watch or listen to the book being completed page by page. There are also some printable guides and an information leaflet that explains the CHCP's role in patient-led healthcare.

Thank you for being so receptive to MCHCP! If you can print copies out for your patients that will make it much easier for anyone with limited mobility, cognitive impairment, or fatigue. Being prepared to walk them through the process of filling it in if they are confused or overwhelmed can help too, but if you do not have the time or resources for that then please see our step-by-step guides where they can watch or listen to the book being completed page by page. There are also some printable guides and an information leaflet that explains MCHCP's role in patient-led healthcare.

Not unless they are for the use of yourself and your immediate household, only. The versions that are available in our download section will always be free, but if you have paid for a custom themed version from our shop (coming soon) then we ask that you please refrain from distributing it to your friends, either in the original digital form or printed out.

We only ever share information that we have been given permission to use but if you've changed your mind then please Contact Us. Please tell us your name, which content you wish to have removed (eg: a photo or testimonial) and where you have seen it posted (eg: Instagram or this site). A link to the post or page your content is displayed on will help us to find it and remove it more quickly.

The VIP List is a free register for health and social care organisations, clinics, departments, charities, and groups who wish to pledge support for the aims of the CHCP and advertise to current and prospective patients that they are receptive to its use in their organisation. It gives patients and service users the confidence to use their CHCP freely in appointments, or to ask their support filling it in or adapting it to the specific needs of that organisation.

We don't want it to be an exclusive club, so if you work with people who have a chronic illness or disability and you think they could benefit from using the Chronic Health & Care Passport when liaising with your service then please do sign up.

The VIP List is a free register for health and social care organisations, clinics, departments, charities, and groups who wish to pledge support for the aims of the CHCP and advertise to current and prospective patients that they are receptive to its use in their organisation. It gives patients and service users the confidence to use their CHCP freely in appointments, or to ask their support filling it in or adapting it to the specific needs of that organisation.

We don't want it to be an exclusive club, so if you work with people who have a chronic illness or disability and you think they could benefit from using the Chronic Health & Care Passport when liaising with your service then please do sign up.

Please either Email us, choosing 'Suggestion' or 'Correction' as the subject, or use the Contact form. We're always happy to hear from you with new ideas and are ready to learn and improve if there's something we're not getting quite right.

Just fill out this Google Form with your organisation's details so that we can list you in the correct category and we'll get you registered as soon as we can. We recommend that you also sign up for our newsletter to receive updates when we have new features or options available.

Just fill out this Google Form with your organisation's details so that we can list you in the correct category and we'll get you registered as soon as we can. We recommend that you also sign up for our newsletter to receive updates when we have new features or options available.

When you register for the VIP List there's an option on the form to let us know that you'd like to supply printed booklets to your patients. How many we have to distribute will depend on the donations we receive so we can't promise any, but will keep you on the waiting list.

If your organisation wishes to purchase printed booklets then you can email us, but you must not sell the booklets on to your patients or service users, they have to be gifted.

In accordance with our Mission Statement, any money donated to MCHCP will be used in the following ways:

• To have paper copies of MCHCP printed for health and social care settings to distribute, especially to vulnerable patients who may not have access to internet and printing without assistance.

• To distribute posters and other supporting resources to participating health and social care settings that will help patients and service users to identify organisations who have signed up to our VIP List and welcome the use of MCHCP.

• To improve site accessibility and fund additional or improved accessible versions of MCHCP, such as the planned Fillable PDF Editions.

• One of the options available to people donating through PayPal is to help toward our operating costs. This would allow us to expand the products we can offer, utilise improved software to improve future revisions of MCHCP, upgrade our web hosting package, and (one day!) to possibly even pay our contributors for their hard work, skill, and dedication. Everything is currently entirely self-funded.

• Donations received for a specific purpose, such as to fund a print run for a particular hospital or charity, will follow the terms of the donation with transparency and accountability.

• Money generated through the sales of themed editions, limited print runs, and other merchandise will be used to cover our operating costs, as outlined above.

Any money received that goes above and beyond what we need (or which are able to direct to the projects outlined in our Mission Statement), will be donated to the Open Medicine Foundation to aid their biomedical research into incurable, devastating, life-limiting chronic illness.

Accounts will be available on request. Though we are not currently a registered charity we are not seeking to make a profit, just to help improve the lives of other chronically ill and disabled people.

When you register for the VIP List there's an option on the form to let us know that you'd like to supply printed booklets to your patients. How many we have to distribute will depend on the donations we receive so we can't promise any, but will keep you on the waiting list.

If your organisation wishes to purchase printed booklets then you can email us, but you must not sell the booklets on to your patients or service users, they have to be gifted.

If you've changed your mind about being registered on our VIP List then please Contact Us. Please tell us your name, the name of your organisation, which content you wish to have updated or removed, and why. Your details will be amended as soon as we are able to do so.

If you've changed your mind about being registered on our VIP List then please Contact Us. Please tell us your name, the name of your organisation, which content you wish to have updated or removed, and why. Your details will be amended as soon as we are able to do so.

Please either Email us, choosing 'Suggestion' or 'Correction' as the subject, or use the Contact form. We're always happy to hear from you with new ideas and are ready to learn and improve if there's something we're not getting quite right.

Please either Email us, choosing 'Suggestion' or 'Correction' as the subject, or use the Contact form. We're always happy to hear from you with new ideas and are ready to learn and improve if there's something we're not getting quite right.