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: V1.2 | |
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Release date | April 2021 |
Release notes | V1.2 |
Next release date | December 2024 |
Next release type | Scheduled release |
The standard | |
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Full standard – PRSB viewer |  |
Full standard – Excel |  |
Full standard – Json |  |
Supporting documentation | Description/purpose |
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Information standards notice (ISN) | ISNs are published to announce new or changes to information standards published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. |
 | This document includes general implementation guidance for all PRSB standards and detailed guidance, specific to the About Me Standard. |
 | Rules for implementation of the standard. |
 | Describes the purpose, methodolgy and stakeholder engagement for developing the standard, along with the findings and recommendations for further work. |
 | Survey findings and analysis. |
 | Summarises the hazards which could result from implementing the standard. |
 | Details the potential hazards from implementing the standard with their risk rating and mitigation. |
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.
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.
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.
How it works
The standard has 7 sections which help to provide an overall structure with setting out the information and prioritising the most important information first. Only relevant sections need to be completed and keeping it prioritised and concise is important for busy professionals reading it.
The 7 sections are:
- 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 don’t
- How and when to support me
- Also worth knowing about me
The standard can be completed with just text, or with videos 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. It should be shared via a link so professionals access the master version, not old versions copied into local systems.
Examples
To give a clearer idea of how the standard works in practice, PRSB have created some scenario examples and case studies.
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.
- IHRIM record correction 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
- 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