Making A Free Autism Hospital Passport

A visit to the hospital, whether for a planned appointment or an emergency, can be a stressful and disorientating experience for anyone. For an autistic person, the unfamiliar environment, sensory overload, and disruption to routine can be incredibly challenging, making it difficult to communicate needs and receive the best possible care.

Fortunately, there is a simple yet powerful tool that can dramatically improve these experiences: the Autism Hospital Passport (click here). This article provides a practical guide for autistic people, their families, and carers in the UK, explaining what a Hospital Passport is, why it is so important, and how you can create one for yourself or for someone you look after.

What is an Autism Hospital Passport?

So, what exactly is this passport and how can it help? An Autism Hospital Passport is a document that you create, which contains essential, personalised information about you, your autism, and your needs. It is designed to be given to doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff to help them understand you better and provide you with care that is tailored to you.

Think of it as a user manual for you. In a busy hospital environment, staff may not have the time to get to know you fully. The passport provides them with key information at a glance, helping to bridge communication gaps and prevent misunderstandings.

The Critical Importance of a Hospital Passport

Having a completed Hospital Passport ready can be transformative for a hospital stay or visit. Its benefits are wide-ranging and significant:

• Improves Communication

  It clearly outlines your preferred way of communicating. This is vital if you find it difficult to speak when you are feeling stressed, anxious, or unwell, or if you use alternative communication methods.

• Manages Your Sensory Needs

  The passport details your specific sensory sensitivities-to light, noise, touch, or smells. This information allows staff to make simple adjustments to your environment, such as dimming the lights or moving you to a quieter area, which can significantly reduce your anxiety and distress.

• Reduces Anxiety

  By explaining your routines, what might cause you to feel distressed, and, crucially, what helps you to feel calm and safe, the passport empowers staff to prevent unnecessary anxiety and to support you effectively if you do become overwhelmed.

• Ensures Safer, More Effective Care

  It provides a clear summary of important medical information, such as your current medications, allergies, and any co-occurring health conditions, which helps to reduce the risk of medical errors.

The good news is that creating a comprehensive Hospital Passport is a straightforward process. A free and easy-to-use online tool has been specifically designed to help you.

Using the Free Online Tool

You can create your passport by visiting https://www.autisminfocenter.org/hospitalpassport.

This website will guide you through a series of sections, prompting you for all the essential information that healthcare staff will find useful. You can complete it yourself, or a family member or carer can help you. Once you have filled everything in, you can save and print your passport, ready for any hospital visit.

There's one thing you'll need to keep in mind. Medical professionals don't have a lot of time, and they can't be expected to remember every little detail, so your hospital passport should be as short and to-the-point as possible. Only enter the most important facts and things that are really important to you - that way you'll keep it down to about 4 sides of paper. Any more than that and you'll risk them not reading it properly! Just stick to the basic facts without going into big explanations about everything and you'll be fine.

What Information to Include (The Key Sections)

The online tool is structured to capture all the vital details. Key sections include:

• Your Personal and Emergency Details

  Including your name, contact information, and who to contact in an emergency.

• Medical Summary

  Details of your GP, any existing medical conditions you have, and a list of your current medications.

• About Your Autism

  A space to explain how your autism affects you, your specific sensory sensitivities, and how you might behave if you are distressed or anxious.

• Your Support Needs

  Information on any help you might need with daily tasks like eating, drinking, or moving around.

• Your Communication Needs

  This is a critical section. Detail how you best communicate and how staff can best communicate with you. Explain how you express pain, agreement, or disagreement.

• Your Likes and Dislikes

  This helps staff to make you more comfortable. Include things that calm and comfort you (like a special interest or a particular object) and things that you find distressing.

Prepare in Advance: Don't Wait for an Emergency

The most important advice is to prepare your Hospital Passport before you need it. In the middle of a stressful or emergency situation, it is incredibly difficult to remember and communicate all this vital information.

Take the time now to create your passport. Once completed, print several copies. Keep one in a safe place at home, give copies to trusted family members or carers, and have one ready in a "grab bag" that you can take with you for any planned or unplanned hospital visits.

Your Voice in Your Healthcare

An Autism Hospital Passport is a simple but profoundly effective tool. It ensures that your needs are understood, your voice is heard, and your dignity is respected, even when you are at your most vulnerable.

Your Hospital Passport empowers you and enables healthcare professionals to provide the safe, comfortable, and person-centred care that you are entitled to. Creating one is a vital act of preparation and self-advocacy.