What is the difference between the Health Profile and the hospital passport or other learning disability communication tools?
A review of health communication tools was undertaken by Northway et al (2017) they identified 60 different types of health communication tools in circulation with little consistency in design, content, length and document name. They concluded that this variance would reduce their effectiveness and key information could be missed.
Improvement Cymru commissioned the University of South Wales to undertake further research to identify the key components for a health communication tool, such as important information and optimal length and format. This research was used to develop the Once for Wales Health Profile.
The Once for Wales Health Profile should now be used instead of other learning disability communication tools, such as the hospital passport, and it is designed to be used at all types of health care visits, including GP, optician, dentist and social care.
