About Me Standard
About Me information is the most important details that a person wants to share with professionals in health and social care. This information might include how best to communicate with the person, how to help them feel at ease or details about how they like to take their medication. This standard outlines how About Me information should be documented and shared in health and care records.
Current release
Version: V2.0 | |
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Release date | March 2025 |
Release notes |  |
Status | Active |
Formal Approvals & Endorsement | DAPB – DAPB approved as part of the DAPB4022: Personalised Care and Support Plan – NHS England Digital
Endorsement – Endorsed by key professional bodies and stakeholders For England the Data Alliance Partnership Board has delegated authority from the secretary of state for health to approve and mandate standards including under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. For Wales the Welsh Information Standards Board approves information standards. |
Next proposed release date | Jan – March 2028 |
Next release type | Standard 3-year review |
Commissioner | North West London Collaboration of CCGs and NHS Digital (now NHS England) |
The standard | |
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Full standard – PRSB viewer | Link published soon |
Full standard – Excel |  |
Full standard – Json |  |
Supporting documentation | Description/purpose |
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 | This document includes general implementation guidance for all PRSB standards. Detailed implementation guidance specific to this standard is included within the information model. |
 | Rules for implementation of the standard. |
  | About Me was originally developed as part of the Personalised Care and Support Plan and then enhanced as part of the digital social care suite of standards. This report outlines the development and consultation process of the standard. |
 Draft pending final approval by the NHSE Clinical Safety Group | Summarises the hazards which could result from implementing the standard. |
 Draft pending final approval by the NHSE Clinical Safety Group | Details the potential hazards from implementing the standard with their risk rating and mitigation. |
Provenance Data Standard | The Provenance Data Standard is referenced in this standard. |
Need implementation support?
- Online support form
- Support@theprsb.org
- 020 4551 5225 (9-5 Mon-Fri, excl. bank holidays)
Conformant partners
The following Partners have successfully achieved conformance against The About Me Standard V1.2.
About this standard
Using About Me information has been shown to achieve huge benefits for people including supporting them through hospital appointments or other care which might not have been possible or resulted in adverse outcomes without understanding key ways to work with the person.
The standard is structured to help both professionals find the information about the person quickly and help people to structure the information they wish to share.
Watch Shane’s moving story to find out how important the right information is for good care and how it can keep people well and out of hospital.
Scope
‘About Me’ is for any person (or their carer/guardian where the person doesn’t have capacity) to share the things that are most important to them with the professionals and carers providing their care. It is intended to be generic and apply to everyone, from those who have complex care and support needs to those who rarely require care and/or support. It is not intended for repeating information which should be in a person’s record.
- UK wide and applies to adults and children.
- A standard for sharing information that the person (or somebody acting on their behalf) considers important about themselves to enable the best, personalised care and support to be provided.
- Captures an individual’s needs, preferences, and strengths to support person-centred care and self-management.
- Provides a holistic view, including what individuals enjoy and can do daily, beyond immediate care needs.
- Organised into sections to help individuals share relevant details and caregivers find key information easily.
- Applicable to everyone, from those with complex needs to those requiring minimal support.
- It does not determine an individual’s right to access social care or health services.
- It is not a person-held record and does not include clinician-recorded details like medications, conditions or reasonable adjustments.
- It is not a care or support plan but sits alongside these in a care record.
- It is not a go-to section for legal information such as Power of Attorney or Next of Kin.
- It does not prescribe what must be included – individuals choose the information they wish to share.
- It does not define who can view it; this is decided locally based on legal and information governance frameworks.
- It does not specify how it should be presented, recorded, or managed across different systems.
How it works
- What’s most important to me
- People who are important to me
- How I communicate and how to communicate with me
- My wellness
- Please do and please do not
- How and when to support me
- Also worth knowing about me
It can be completed with just text, or with videos/multimedia files and has implementation guidance for both users and those developing systems. It should be owned by the person, who can update it as and when required. Ideally, it will be shared via a link so professionals access the master version, not old versions copied into local systems.
Examples and case studies
To give a clearer idea of how the standard works in practice, PRSB have created some examples.
These case studies highlight the real benefits of using About Me for both individuals and professionals.
Further resources
- Standards explained
PRSB’s guide to standards which sets out the purpose and benefits of using standards and how to support frontline professionals to adopt them.
- Managing incorrect information in health records – IHRIM Good Practice Guidance
Despite vigilance when filing information in records, mistakes can occur. The Institute of Health Records and Information Management has guidance to support professionals in making corrections following errors.
Endorsement
This standard has been endorsed by the following organisations:
- British Association for Music Therapy
- British Dietetic Association
- British Geriatrics Society
- British Psychological Society
- Care Provider Alliance
- Care Software Providers Association (CASPA)
- Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
- Compassion in Dying
- Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland
- Institute of Health Records and Information Management
- Local Government Association
- Royal College of Emergency Medicine
- Royal College of General Practitioners
- Royal College of Nursing
- Royal College of Occupational Therapists
- Royal College of Physicians
- Royal Pharmaceutical Society
PRSB define endorsement as the public declaration by legitimate stakeholder organisations that that they support a standard, are aware of its purpose, benefit and development methodology, and will promote and encourage the use of the standard to their members, supported by the PRSB.