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People with disability - Julian's Key Health Passport

What is Julian's Key Health Passport?

Julian’s Key Health Passport is a patient/carer-controlled tool designed to improve communication and empower people with disability, their families and carers to be more involved in their healthcare.

The Julian’s Key Health Passport includes patient information in order of critical, important and useful – in a format that can be shared efficiently with carers and health staff. It is available as a mobile application and PDF (to be filled electronically or printed and completed).

It gives health staff the information to provide person-centred care using a traffic light system. For example, informing if a patient needs help to eat or drink, or how they communicate:

Julian's Key traffic light

The Passport is a live document and may change over time. It was developed by West Moreton Hospital and Health Service and is named after a young man with disability who passed away in Ipswich Hospital in 2011.

Who is Julian's Key Health Passport for?

Julian’s Key Health Passport is primarily designed for people with intellectual or cognitive disability but may benefit anyone who might have difficulty communicating in a hospital or health setting.

Where can I get the Julian's Key Health Passport?

Download the Passport (PDF 1201 kB) which can be edited or printed.

*Access to the mobile phone application of Julian’s Key is temporarily unavailable.

Julian's Key trial evaluation?

In 2019, Queensland Health launched a trial of the Julian’s Key Health Passport at Ipswich and Logan Hospitals to find out if the Passport:

  • helps people with disability to communicate their healthcare needs in a way that empowers them as individuals
  • helps health professionals and the broader care team to provide person-centred care for people with disability.

The trial was externally evaluated to identify whether the above objectives were achieved. The evaluation concluded in August 2021.

The key recommendations from the evaluation can be found in the Julian’s Key Evaluation Factsheet.

Queensland Health is working on the implementation of these recommendations.

Julian's Key Health Passport Hospital Procedure

This document (PDF 289 kB) provides clinicians and other hospital staff guidance on how to implement Julian’s Key Health Passport across care settings when a person presents with the Passport on admission or presentation to the hospital.

Contacts

If you have questions about Julian’s Key Health Passport, contact Strategic Policy and Legislation Branch: DisabilityPolicy@health.qld.gov.au.

Last updated: 14 March 2022