My Medication Passport

What is My Medication Passport?

Communication of medication changes across interfaces is a well recognised issue within the NHS. Whenever a patient transfers care settings there is a risk that information about their medicines is not transferred, or inaccurately transferred.

My Medication Passport is a written record of a patient's medicines. It is designed to improve communication between patients, carers and healthcare professionals and maintain a record of changes made to the patient's medication. 

Features of the My Medication Passport include:

• relevant information about the patient

• relevant information about the patient's GP / other healthcare professional

• list of medicines the patient cannot take and the reasons why

• compliance aids in use

• list of the patient's current medicines

• changes made to current medicines and why

• blank pages for the patient to record additional medical information such as vaccinations, screenings etc.

What are the aims?

The passport aims are to help patients/carers have a complete record of their medicines as well as an understanding of the reasons for any changes being made to their medicines. It's designed to empower patients/carers to take control of their medication and help seamless transfer of medication information across healthcare interfaces.

How has it been developed?

My Medication Passport was initially developed as part of the wider Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Improving Prescribing for the Elderly (ImPE) project, funded by CLAHRC NWL. The main aim of the project was to develop a medication review system based on the evidence based tool called "STOPP" (Screening Tool of Older Persons potentially inappropriate Prescriptions) to identify and stop medications which are causing harm in the elderly. As part of the Patient Public Involvement (PPI) work stream of the project, the idea of a "Medication" Passport was generated by patients in September 2010.

My Medication Passport was first tested with patients from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (St Mary's, Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals) where 7,000 booklets were distributed to both inpatients and outpatients in 2012.

In 2013 My Medication Passport was evaluated and launched across Northwest London. The evaluation concluded that MMP had been highly useful to patients both as an aide memoire and in supporting their conversations with clinicians, family members, friends and carers.

Barber S, Thakkar K, Marvin V, et al. Evaluation of My Medication Passport: a patient-completed aidememoire designed by patients, for patients, to help towards medicines optimisation. BMJ Open 2014;4:e005608. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014- 005608

In 2015 a case study demonstrated good use of the passport to support a young person with learning and physical disabilities and his family.

Jubraj B, et al. Use of a medication passport in a disabled child seen across many care settings. BMJ Case Rep 2015. doi:10.1136/bcr-2014-208033

What is the vision for the My Medication Passport?

The popularity of this patient tool is such that orders continue to be received from all parts of the UK, from Scotland to Cornwall. The vision is that My Medication Passport is used by patients, pharmacists and clinicians wherever it is useful.

Since its launch in 2013, the use of My Medication Passport has scaled up across the UK with NHS organisations, patients and pharmacists at the forefront of this.

Barber, S, French, C, Matthews, R, et al. The role of patients and carers in diffusing a health‐care innovation: A case study of “My Medication Passport”. HealthExpect. 2019; 22: 676– 687. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12893

Further information

My Medication Passport is included in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society June 2012 report Keeping patients safe when they transfer between care providers- getting the medicines right.