Your medical instructions available when it matters most

A private members association – or PMA – is a non-profit organisation run for members by members. It is bound by its Constitution, which lays out the rules and roles of its members; in the case of My Medical Choice, we place particular emphasis on the right to respect and privacy for all members.

There are two types of PMA – incorporated, which involves registering with the government and being bound by official regulations, and unincorporated associations, which are not bound by government regulations outside of the normal obligations regarding the statutory laws of England and Wales. My Medical Choice is an unincorporated association.

Whilst PMAs can receive income from grants and donations, our association prefers to retain its independence from outside influence. All monies raised by member subscription fees go back into improving the website and services and we rely heavily on volunteers to carry out the day-to-day running of the services in order to keep subscription fees to a minimum.

The founder members of My Medical Choice met in 2020.

My Medical Choice is a genuine grassroots organisation and was funded exclusively by a founder member. Funds raised go towards continuous improvements to the website, creating additional services, and supporting likeminded organisations.

Privacy is at the heart of the members’ association. Only founder members who know each other personally can hold administrative positions. This ensures confidentiality for all who join.

Unlike many other organisations, My Medical Choice guarantees that we do not harvest members’ data. We also have a policy of only emailing members when necessary – for example, when we need to update them on important matters, such as a major change to website functionality, or to send out our Newsletter.

My Medical Choice is an online system of integrated healthcare services and educational material. We support members in managing their medical choices in general, and protect their healthcare wishes in emergency situations.

Why is the My Medical Choice service so crucial in the ‘Golden Hour’?

‘Golden Hour’ is a term used by emergency services and A&E staff that refers to the critical first hour immediately following a traumatic medical event. During this window of opportunity, every second counts.

As the Golden Hour includes the time spent waiting for ambulance services or helicopter medics to arrive, prompt and appropriate medical treatment is crucial to improve the chances of survival and reduce the likelihood of long-term complications or serious disability. Rapid access to accurate medical information could mean the difference between life or death.

By storing your medical history and directives online for emergency services to access, you help them avoid medical error and treat you in line with your healthcare wishes.

How this works in practice

In an emergency situation, ambulance services and pre-hospital care staff log on to our database to access a member’s emergency-contact data, healthcare history, and directives on medical procedures and treatments. Furthermore, when they log in, an SMS alert is sent to the patient’s emergency contacts (ICEs), providing them with the most important details of what has happened.

Our system’s components include:

First responders, ambulance, and A&E staff are trained to look out for these items. They gain access to your online medical profile using the login data displayed on your tag or card.

Medical data you store with us might include:

What is the No Blood! warning system?

Nowadays, an increasing number of people – either for religious or personal reasons - are choosing to refuse transfusions of blood and blood products. Because some paramedics are specially trained to administer blood and plasma at the scene of an accident or in the ambulance, there is a clear need for a warning system that quickly lets them know their patient does not want blood.

My Medical Choice advocates freedom of choice. We provide the following No Blood! warning system to our members:

Non-emergency medical services

Bloodless surgery

Some of our members prefer to refuse blood and blood products. They choose to schedule operations that use alternatives to blood and plasma, combined with ‘bloodless’ surgical techniques, such as keyhole and laser surgery, for example.

To enable our members and their surgical team to get the best out of their pre-operative consultant appointment, we supply the following support documents in our Pre-op Consultation Pack:

Private blood donors – an increasingly popular option

At My Medical Choice, we appreciate that some people just feel more comfortable receiving blood from someone they know, such as a family member or trusted donor from their local community. Others feel that by arranging their own private donors, they are relieving the pressure on the NHS and enabling stored blood to be used for emergencies only – especially in today’s climate when we’re told that blood stocks are often perilously low.

Alternatively, members who prefer to use private donors but do not have access to compatible family or friends may use our The National Blood Donor Database. Members can search for compatible blood donors based on postcode and region and make private arrangements between themselves and the donor.

Please note, however, that private donors are only helpful to members who require a transfusion in a non-emergency setting – such as scheduled surgery, or treatment for low haemoglobin. Private donors cannot be used in an emergency situation.

The National Blood Donor Database relies on:

Scotland! Although membership to My Medical Choice is applicable throughout the UK, in Scotland the legal documents have slightly different names. The Lasting Power of Attorney document is called a Welfare Power of Attorney and the Advance Decision Notice is known as an Advance Directive. For ease of use, we have referred to these documents by the names used in England and Wales.

Northern Ireland! Please note that there is no Health and Welfare Power of Attorney in Northern Ireland. Making decisions regarding the welfare of a person is the responsibility of the next of kin. Nor is an Advance Directive/Decision Notice officially recognised in law. However, even though an ADN is not officially recognised in law in Northern Ireland, if it has been completed properly the courts are likely to uphold your directives as stated in your ADN. MMC consulted the Jehovah’s Witnesses head office for advice on this matter and they have confirmed that they’ve been using their own version of an ADN in Northern Ireland for years without major issues.

What this means in practice is that you can use all the services provided by My Medical Choice except the Power of Attorney.

To compensate for not being able to appoint an Attorney, we suggest you discuss your directives for healthcare with your next of kin in great detail and ensure they understand why you wish to reject the treatments and procedures specified in your ADN before you add them as your ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact. Your named Emergency Contacts will receive the automated SMS alert provided with the service if you are involved in a medical emergency.

It may be useful to have your next of kin witness the ADN document for additional protection, as it would be difficult for them to object to the directives in your ADN in a medical emergency if they have added their details to the document and signed it.

We set up the National Blood Donor Database in response to people who have concerns about the effect of mRNA medications on blood quality. Its purpose is to help concerned people find likeminded donors should a scheduled surgery potentially require a blood transfusion.

Ideally, members will organise their own private, compatible, on-call blood donors from among family and friends, and store their contact details in their My Medical Choice account. However, we appreciate that this option is not always possible.

We ask that members and non-members wishing to become a My Medical Choice donor add their details to the database only if they have had no mRNA-based medications or therapeutics. However, members are wholly responsible for carrying out their own due diligence before adding a donor to their trusted-donor list. To help our members stay safe, we provide them with a template mutual-trust contract to be signed by potential donors.

To enable a more harmonious relationship between member, donor(s), and the NHS, we also encourage donors to sign up to the standard Red Cross donor system (assuming they have not already) to enable their blood type to be professionally confirmed and cross-matched for antigens, and to ensure they meet the required health standards for donation. By doing so, members and their donors can remove certain barriers that may be raised when arranging private blood donation for a potential transfusion during surgery.

Why contact members from the National Blood Donor Database before you need blood?

Should a member need surgery that could involve a transfusion, it will take time to arrange a list of on-call private donors who could be accepted by the NHS. You should, therefore, begin to set up your trusted-donor list as soon as you become a member of My Medical Choice.

And there are other benefits to reaching out to potential donors straight away. Potential blood donors may be in the same situation as you and not know any like-minded people in their area. Or they may already be active in local campaign groups and happy to meet potential members for their group.

By establishing contact with donors before you need blood, you could gain the following advantages:

But remember: safety first!

We advise our members to proceed cautiously before contacting strangers. After all, using the National Blood Donor Database is a private arrangement between members; it is used at a member’s own risk. We suggest our members read our help sheet ‘Using the National Blood Donor Database’ before using the database.

Thankfully, it is very unlikely that members will need to use the National Blood Donor Database. However, just knowing it is there gives those who want it valuable peace of mind.

This is an important and detailed subject, so we’ve covered completing an Advance Decision Notice (ADN) in our FAQs, in the User Guide provided to members, and the ADN form itself contains information boxes with each directive.

The Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) document comes with its own guide on how to complete it. With an LPA, you will be giving a great deal of power to your Attorney in the event of a serious accident or illness where you are incapacitated – so choose your Attorney(s) wisely and, before you appoint them, talk them through your wishes regarding the healthcare treatments and procedures you prefer to reject. We provide a help sheet called ‘About My Healthcare Decisions’ to help our members deal with this difficult step.

You will also need a witness to state that you are of sound mind, and separate witnesses to sign off on certain segments of the LPA. This is explained in the user guide step-by-step. Although a lengthy and comprehensive document, the LPA does NOT require legal expertise to complete and does not require the use of a solicitor. You simply fill in your personal details and arrange Witnesses to verify the details as being true.

The ADN is a much simpler document to complete, and can be signed and witnessed digitally and then printed off to use for immediate protection.

Yes.

In the event of an accident, you will normally be taken to A&E. Private hospitals do not offer that facility, generally speaking, and where they do, they do not offer the service for children.

However, if you have elected to have surgery in a private hospital, you can make them fully aware of your treatment requirements in advance and allow them access to your personal health profile in case of an emergency.

You may also use the Pre-op Consultation Pack in a private consultation. Obviously, the NHS policy document would not be applicable – although your rights under the Equality Act 2010 apply to private businesses and services, too. Ask your consultant’s secretary (or applicable department) for the hospital’s terms and conditions and patient policy brochure before the consultation to give you enough time to go through it and highlight any areas of concern you may wish to discuss.

If you act responsibly with your medical-alert tag and/or ID card, then yes, your data should be quite safe.

Of course, in an emergency, emergency services access your personal health profile and ADN using the login details on your tag or card – although access is read-only. They can check the relevant medical details needed for your care, but cannot change the information they see.

Your data can only be accessed upon successful completion of a 2-step login process. This includes a unique 9-digit computer-generated passcode. The process ensures that people who know you well cannot access your data just by knowing personal details about you.

Keeping your login details safe

It is important that you take sensible precautions to keep your login details safe.