The website was developed to provide a simple and easily accessible source of useful forms and information for individuals and professionals.  It aims to improve your experience of health and social care services and encourage information sharing between you and the people who support you. We have developed a range of forms to help you gather together your own personal and medical information in one place.  This will help you make sure the right information about you is available to share - when necessary – with others working with you.  These forms and guidance are available on the Say it Once website. The forms include a Personal Profile.

No. Although most of us assume our information is stored centrally, health and social care information is currently held in different places. This includes GP surgeries, hospitals, social services and health community teams.

Your personal and medical information could help the professionals looking after you, particularly in an emergency.

Sharing information will also give you more choice and control and ensure better decision-making.  Sharing information electronically has other benefits including:

• reduced waiting times for test results - GPs will be able to see these immediately they're available
• in emergencies, ambulance staff will be able to make better decisions with immediate access to a summary of medical records
• when you are admitted to hospital - particularly in an emergency - staff can see important information, such as past treatments, current medications and any allergies

If a Personal Profile has been shared, staff will know the best way to communicate to ensure faster treatment.

Your basic details are included as well as information on the medication, living wills, dependants and emergency contact details.  you can include as much or as little information as you like - you are in control. The form doesn’t need to be sent off – you just store it in a safe place ready to be used whenever necessary. It’s your decision on whether to allow others to use the information you’ve recorded.

The Government says that by 2015 you should be able to see, own, and share your own health and social care information. This would be much easier if all your information was in one place and you had easy access to it.

This website helps you record the information you may need to share at some  time. The Personal Profile is a key part of these changes - once completed it's yours to keep and share as and when you wish.

If you agree to your information being shared, we can upload your information and store it on the Hampshire Health Record (HHR). The HHR is an electronic health and social  care repository that allows fast, secure sharing of information. Based in Southampton, the central store of data collects summary information from a range of health and social care systems.

The benefits include:

• a secure system with strictly controlled access
• information only shared with care professionals in Hampshire including GPs and community nurses
• information only shared with your permission
• full access to your information at all times
• knowing who has seen your record

The Personal Profile and other forms have been developed to allow you to record important information about yourself in one document. The information can then be kept in a safe place and used when professionals need quick access to information. This could mean giving the form to paramedics in an emergency so they can instantly see vital allergy information, or allowing a health or social care professional access when they need basic personal information. You can also choose to store it on the HHR.

The Personal Profile and other forms can be downloaded in a number of formats, along with a leaflet giving guidance  on how to fill in and use the form. The site also contains much more information  about the ‘Say It Once’ project and information sharing in Hampshire.

Yes, you can fill in the forms by hand and give them to a professional or keep a copy yourself. If you don’t use a computer and would like a copy of a form please get in touch by calling 01794 519495.