Black Books (Personal Health Profiles or PHPs)

Black Books (Personal Health Profiles) have been developed by Oxleas in line with the Equality Act (2010) to promote reasonably adjusted care for people with a learning disability. They are a hand held health record, belonging to the person with learning disabilities.

They have been designed to recognise the potential for several people to be simultaneously involved in the provision of support/care for people with a learning disability. As such, all health professionals are encouraged to make an entry in the black book. This will help people with learning disabilities communicate their health needs and current health interventions to the different people involved in their care.

Colleagues in primary care services have a specific contractual requirements to meet, in line with the enhanced service contract for annual health checks for people with learning disabilities which states that Health Checks should "integrate with an individual’s Personal Health Record and Health Action Plan."

For all other health professionals, it is recommended that at the very least, you can record who you are and what the over-arching plan of care is for the person you’re providing healthcare to. Oxleas have created some functionality within the clinical records system to electronically record who has a black book. The aim is to ensure everyone known to learning disability services receives a black book.

The books were updated in 2015. Features of the black book include:

  • Picture boards to help communication
  • Redesigned health action forms
  • Easy to fill in forms for health checks
  • Separate appointment pages available depending on the health problem
  • Extra pages for health actions, appointments and health checks
  • A pocket for letters at the back of the book.

If you are a local practice and would like more information on the black books, please contact your community learning disability nurses:

  • Bexley Learning Disability Team - Telephone: 020 8269 3300
  • Bromley Learning Disability Team - Telephone: 020 3871 5680
  • Greenwich Learning Disability Team - Telephone: 020 8921 4860

Extra pages can be downloaded and printed off. The pages are formatted two to a page so that they can be printed on A4 paper and cut in half. To access the pages, click on the relevant tab.