Only include information you are comfortable keeping here
A reference page is meant to reduce work, not create a new worry about what has been written down. The sections below are options, not a form to complete in full — a version with four lines filled in is a working version. Nothing sensitive is required for the page to be useful.
What a reference page can hold
Contact details
- Preferred name — the one to use, not the one on forms
- Phone number
- Email address, if wanted
Key contacts
- Emergency contact
- Carer or supporter, where there is one
- GP or practice details, if the person wishes
Health information
- Diagnosed conditions, as the person names them
- Allergies
- A link or reference to the current medication list, rather than a copy
- Communication and access needs — how best to be spoken to, what to avoid
Practical information
- Mobility needs, including what helps and what does not
- Sensory needs — light, noise, and what to keep low
- Whether someone helps with communication, and who
- Preferred contact method — text, call, email, through a supporter
Home / support
- Who has access to the home, and how
- Pet or child responsibilities, where relevant
- Practical support contacts — who does what, if it is ever needed
Important documents — cross-references, not copies
- The medication list
- The support plan
- Emergency information
- Appointment notes
Notice the shape of this: it is an organisational page, not a medical record. The health section points to documents rather than replacing them, and the practical sections answer the questions people actually ask — how best to reach this person, what helps, who to call.
One home, known to someone
The format matters less than the singularity: one folder in one place, one note in one app, one printed page in one drawer — and one other person who knows it exists and where. That last part is what turns a private convenience into a working system: during a crash, a hospital stay or simply a bad month, a supporter can find the information without the person it belongs to having to direct the search.
- Labels in plain language — “contacts”, “medication list”, not a system only you understand
- The most-needed facts first — what a newcomer would reach for, on the first page rather than the last
- Updated in the same act as the document it points to — a reference to an out-of-date list is worse than none
- Kept somewhere secure but findable — sensitive enough to protect, practical enough to reach
What does not belong here
Some information should never sit in a general reference, however convenient it seems on a hard day:
- Passwords — a password manager, if used, is the right home; a shared reference is not
- PINs and banking details
- Security answers and backup codes
The test is simple: if someone else reading the page could spend your money or enter your accounts with it, it does not go on the page. Everything else is a matter of personal comfort — and the page is designed to be useful without any item that fails that test.
At the severe end
At lower capacity, this page is often maintained by a supporter rather than the person it describes — and the person's preferences remain the authority over its contents. A useful arrangement: the supporter holds the pen, the person holds the say — what is included, what is left out, who is allowed to see it. Where communication is limited, going through the sections together once, slowly, on a reasonable day, means the page can speak accurately on the days its owner cannot.