A handover carries today’s essential information
A one-page caregiver handover gives the next caregiver the information that changes what they need to do during the next few hours. It can cover communication, health, sensory load, routine changes, and contacts without recreating the person’s full care plan.
Keep stable plans, clinical instructions, consent records, and emergency procedures in their approved systems. The handover can point to those records. It should not replace them or ask the next caregiver to decide beyond their role.
Use the page for facts that expire: sleep last night, a missed meal, pain signs, medication already given, a cancelled activity, a new communication signal, or an item that is unavailable today. Date and time turn each note into information the next person can interpret.
What has changed today in health, sleep, food, communication, sensory load, or routine.
The next caregiver’s concrete task, limit, check, or contact point.
Who recorded the information, when they observed it, and where formal instructions are stored.
Include information that changes the next caregiver’s action
A short page works when each line answers a decision. The next caregiver needs to know what to notice, what to do, and when to contact someone. Background that does not alter today’s support can stay in the longer record.
Record the person’s current communication method, any new or context-specific signal, the time they may need to respond, and how they indicate yes, no, pain, pause, or stop.
Record medication already given, the next scheduled dose, known allergies, pain or illness signs, and the exact formal instruction or contact to use. Do not improvise clinical directions.
Name what is available, what the person has eaten or drunk, current access needs, and any concern that requires monitoring or professional advice.
Name today’s known triggers, recovery supports, schedule changes, and objects or places that are unavailable. Describe what the person did rather than guessing how they felt.
State who to contact, for which decision, and at what point. Include emergency instructions only from the approved care or clinical plan.
Write what another caregiver can recognise
“Off today” asks the reader to guess. “Covered both ears and moved to the hall when the blender started at 08:10” names the action, setting, and time. A good handover separates observation, the person’s own words, and the caregiver’s interpretation.
“Ate the yoghurt at 09:00 and left the toast. Drank about half the bottle by 10:30.”
“Selected ‘head hurts’ twice on the device after lunch.” Preserve the person’s wording and communication form.
“Offer the quiet room before the 15:00 pickup. Phone the named contact if the pain signal appears again.”
“I do not know whether the noise or the waiting caused the exit. Both changed at the same time.”
Do not shorten a dose, timing rule, allergy response, seizure plan, swallowing instruction, or emergency threshold from memory. Link or attach the current approved plan and identify the clinician or service to contact when an instruction is unclear.
Share the minimum information needed for this handover
A handover may contain health information, communication details, home routines, and contact information. Give it only to the people who need it for the current care task. Use the secure system already agreed by the family, school, service, or employer.
Add the date, time, author, and intended period. Mark opinions as opinions. Correct an error at the source and tell anyone who received the wrong version. Remove paper copies from bags, cars, and shared spaces when the handover expires.
Include the person in creating the handover in a way they can access. Record their preferences and words. Avoid labels that reduce them to risk, behaviour, or diagnosis when a concrete description will guide support with less harm.
The ICO says personal data must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what the stated purpose requires. Organisations should review what they hold and delete information they no longer need.
This page cannot determine the lawful basis, retention schedule, or security controls for a school, employer, care provider, or health service. Follow that organisation’s data-protection process.
Read the ICO data-minimisation guidanceRun one handover before relying on the format
Use the page for one ordinary transfer between two trusted caregivers. The test is whether the receiver can find the urgent information and carry out the agreed actions without a second spoken briefing.
Use a few hours with familiar routines and a caregiver who can ask questions after the trial.
Add the actions and contacts that differ from the stable care plan. Keep the page to one readable side.
Let them use the page before giving a spoken summary. This shows which information the page fails to carry.
Check whether the receiver understood each instruction, found the formal plans, and knew when to contact someone.
Cut background nobody used. Rewrite vague lines. Add missing times, locations, or thresholds.
Keep the daily handover beside the formal record
A health and care passport serves a broader purpose than a daily handover. NHS England describes it as a way to help health and care staff understand communication, reasonable adjustments, and care preferences. Use the current local format when a hospital, clinic, school, or service provides one.
The guidance presents a passport as a quick way to give professionals information about communication, care, and reasonable adjustments. It also stresses keeping the passport current and storing it where authorised staff can access it.
A daily family handover is narrower and expires sooner. It should point to the passport or care plan rather than copy every stable detail into another uncontrolled document.
Read the NHS passport guidance