SOS UK

The SOS UK app is being evaluated as part of NHS South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Test Bed programme.

The SOS UK app will help you be prepared and give peace of mind in an emergency. One-touch SOS and OK buttons alert your emergency contacts of your GPS location and lets them know if you are either in need of help or OK. The app attaches your self-entered emergency medical information to a personal two-dimensional barcode (called a QR code) so that emergency responders can quickly access your health information.

The app lets you quickly and easily create medical information records for you and your loved ones using convenient pick lists to enter information such as potentially life threatening allergies, medications, immunisations, or medical conditions, as well as your emergency contact information. Once an emergency health record is created, the app generates a QR code unique to the individual. The QR code can be printed onto a wallet card and can also be saved on your phone’s front lock screen to make it visible and ready for access by emergency responders. A wallet card that includes your QR code, retrieval PIN code, and your profile photo can be printed from within the application if you have a WIFI networked printer. Alternatively, the app makes it easy for you to email yourself a link to a website enabling you to print the wallet card from your home computer.

In an emergency situation, health professionals and emergency responders can scan your QR code with any widely available QR code scanner and quickly see your vital health information in one of five languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese) depending on the language setting of the emergency responder’s phone. In addition, when the QR code is scanned, SOS UK automatically generates Email Auto-Alerts to your listed contacts, with a map showing the location of the emergency.

The SOS button lets you quickly alert your emergency contacts. When the button is tapped, the app automatically dials your nominated primary emergency contact, and sends editable text messages to all of your emergency contacts with the GPS location of the emergency. The OK button lets your emergency contacts know you are OK if your situation changes and you no longer need help, or to reassure your loved ones at a time of a natural disaster or other dangerous situation that you might be near. The OK button can also be used to alert your contacts that you are OK in a disaster scenario without sending an SOS message ahead of time.