A folder of their own for every family member

Split the documents by person, and inside each folder keep the same order – then anyone who knows the system can find what they need.

The muddle starts when documents pile up wherever they arrived: in the inbox, in the family chat, in a bag after an appointment. A year later nobody remembers whose test this is or where the discharge note went.

The US National Institute on Aging (NIA) advises keeping important papers in one place: in a folder, in a desk drawer or at least writing down in a notebook what is where.2

  1. Make a folder for each person

    One on paper and one on the phone or computer: “Mum”, “Dad”, “Masha”, “Me”. One person, one folder; no shared “miscellaneous”.

  2. Inside, the same sections

    Tests, doctors' reports, prescriptions, scans, vaccinations, other. When the order is the same for everyone, you do not have to work out how somebody else's folder is arranged.

  3. Name the files to one pattern

    Who, date, what: “Masha_2026-03-14_blood test”. A date written year-month-day sorts the files by itself.

  4. File new things straight away

    Photographed a discharge note – rename it at once and put it in the folder. The paper original goes into the folder of the same person.

A short card with the essentials for each person

One page with what is asked for most often: allergies, conditions, current medicines and vaccinations.

The card comes in handy at a new doctor's and in a hurry, when there is no time to leaf through the whole folder. It is not invented but copied out of the documents.

  • Allergies – exactly as the doctor wrote them down.
  • Chronic conditions – in the wording from the report, without your own retelling.
  • Medicines taken now – the name and the regimen from the prescription.
  • Vaccinations – the names and dates from the vaccination certificate.
  • Doctors' contacts and whom to call in an emergency.

If something in a report is unclear, do not decipher it yourself: copy it as it is and ask the doctor at the next appointment.

Update the card after every appointment where a prescription changed, and look through it in full every six months: remove medicines that were stopped and put new reports into the folder.

An adult relative's documents – with their consent

Ask the person first: an adult decides for themselves who sees their medical documents.

If you keep your mother's or your adult brother's documents, agree in advance: what exactly you keep, where the copies are and whom they may be shown to. A short conversation now saves awkwardness later.

Under NHS rules, giving a relative access to another adult's online health services is usually done at the person's request or with their consent. The rules in your country may differ – check with your relative's clinic.1

  • Do not forward a relative's documents to the family chat without their consent.
  • If the relative changes their mind, give the copies back or delete them.
  • If the person cannot give consent themselves, ask their clinic how access is arranged.

The NIA also advises that someone you trust should know where to find the important papers in an emergency. In a family this can be agreed straight away: who knows where each person's folder is.2

How it will work in MedKeep

In the first release one account is for one person: each has their own document library and their own health profile. The family account is planned for V2.

  • The health profile will hold conditions with their status, allergies with severity and an emergency contact – all of it entered or confirmed by you.
  • Documents go into the library by date, and a comment can be left on any of them, for example “taken fasting”.
  • One user's files will not be visible to another, even if two people sign in on the same phone.
  • All your data and files can be downloaded as an archive.
  • Planned for V2: the family account, with profiles for children and parents in one account and separate rights.
  • While it does not exist, the “Today” screen will show a “Family account” card: tapping it tells the team the feature is wanted.

Neither MedKeep nor Nomi will explain what a relative's test results mean: that question goes to a doctor.

Share the article

Family