Important information spreadsheet - suggestions?

[Filmbuffmum]

My parents are in their 80s, still living in their own house and mostly managing well. We have already sorted LPA and started to have other discussions about how I might help ensure that I am ready to help if they start to become less able. I thought of starting a password protected spreadsheet with important/useful information such as health (NHS number, doctor and surgery, blood type and medication), financial (National Insurance number, current account and savings information, pension details etc). Has anyone got any other ideas of things which might be useful to know in case of emergency, or just for if they start to struggle with life admin etc?

Look at Age UK, they have a life book. It's all there just to fill in.

Have they got gateway accounts for dealing with government stuff?

Have they got photo ID?

Are they signed up for electronic prescriptions? That means their medication is listed centrally and if they're admitted say to A&E can be relatively easily accessed as long as they have name, DoB and address. Check with GP surgery about sharing of medical records as you can opt for this and it means a hospital doctor/AandE would be able to easily get hold of information about allergies, blood group etc. Much easier and saves time if they're admitted in the middle of the night unable to say who the next of kin is.

The trouble with keeping stuff like that in a spreadsheet is remembering to update it (I found mine acquires new things wrong or tweaks of medication relatively often) and then whether you'd be contacted for that information when/if something happens.

Where are Wills/deeds etc

Ask about wishes regarding CPR and or advanced care planning assuming you have agreed LPA for health and well being as well as financial

Stuff they would want in a hospital bag to bring in in an emergency.

Everyday stuff like electricity supplier.

Contact no of neighbours if any, holds a spare key. Especially useful if you need someone to get in the house quickly, or to check over house in absence of your parents.

Yes and you need spare keys yourself.
Location of wills and power of attorney documents.
Utilities suppliers including broadband, phone and TV and when contracts run out.
The same for home and contents insurance.
Their wishes for funeral arrangements. A sensitive issue of course, but worth gently raising if you can, before any cognitive decline means they can’t give a sensible view.
Its great to plan ahead as many of us have ended up having to sort out a huge great muddle because parent(s) chose to bat on regardless long after they had lost the ability to manage their own affairs.

What is the list for? Are you looking for a list of things that it would be useful for you to know in an emergency, or looking for a list that can be accessed by emergency services/healthcare in a crisis?

At home it's great to have a list of their medication, health conditions, NHS number, who they would want contacted in an emergency + phone numbers for these, who has what LPA, ReSPECT forms. This needs to be somewhere really obvious - stuck to the fridge in an envelope is good!

Keysafe for front door key. Spare keys held by other people are all very well but if they fall and manage to summon help themselves the paramedics will need to get in before someone with a spare key arrives. Unless this person lives next door. And if you don't have a keysafe they'll take down the front door.

Plus these things always seem to happen when the spare key holder is on holiday, uncontactable at work or in hospital themselves!

Thanks everyone, some really good ideas and points here. Going to have a proper chat with them about it all soon.

+1 for photo id.

Emails and passwords if possible- I managed to get into my father’s but found a couple of important things/payments not on paper.
It is great you are doing this as honestly not finished totally my father’s stuff from nearly 3 years back and it was so time consuming and worrying in the first few months. He left my mum - who needed a lot of care putting in - but which helped with some transfers of bills and banks but I’ve set up a lot more easily accessible stuff now.
Collating medical info was an issue as it was all over the place plus I don’t have medical POA - I would recommend it though so at least you can be notified of appointments- and not miss them as happened here a lot 🤦🏻‍♀️
My parents wouldn’t have dreamed of setting stuff up as they could manage - and live forever - and didn’t happen in their day, but I’m defo setting up slowly for my kids and need to get it finalised - maybe it was easier in olden days with paper bills and few a/cs but a made nowadays.