Pack for a short flight, not a quick errand

Nobody plans an A&E trip, but almost everyone under-packs for one. A visit can swallow an entire evening — sometimes an entire night — and the difference between a miserable wait and a tolerable one usually comes down to what you grabbed on the way out of the door. More importantly, one particular item genuinely speeds up your medical care.

Treat it like packing for a short-haul flight with no in-flight service. Here is the list, in strict order of importance.

Tier one: the things that change your treatment

Your medicines, in some form

Every clinician you meet will ask the same question first: what do you take? Arrive able to answer precisely and you remove delays, guesswork and a whole category of prescribing errors. Any of these formats works, ranked by reliability:

  1. The boxes or blister packs themselves, swept into a carrier bag
  2. Clear phone photos of every label
  3. The NHS App, which lists your GP prescriptions
  4. A written list — name, dose, how often — kept in a wallet or on the fridge

Whatever the format, include the unglamorous extras: painkillers bought over the counter, inhalers, herbal remedies, vitamins, and anything you have taken today for the problem that is bringing you in.

Your allergy story

Not just the drug, but what it does to you. "Penicillin brings me out in a mild rash" and "penicillin closed my throat" lead to very different prescribing decisions, so know which sentence is yours.

Your NHS number and a scrap of history

The ten-digit NHS number (on old hospital letters, prescriptions, or in the NHS App) pulls up your records fastest; name, date of birth and address work as a slower fallback. If your medical story is complicated, a single page listing your conditions, major operations, implants such as pacemakers or joint replacements, and your GP surgery is worth its weight in saved minutes. Some photo ID helps too, though nobody will turn you away without it.

Tier two: the things that rescue the wait

  • Power. A charged phone dies around hour three of any A&E visit — the hour you most need to update family. A charging cable plus a power bank beats hunting for the waiting room's one free socket.
  • Water and dull snacks. Vending machines run out; waiting rooms rarely feed you. A refillable bottle and a couple of cereal bars or a sandwich cover you. Skip anything smelly. One caveat: if surgery or sedation is remotely possible, staff may ask you to stop eating and drinking — the moment they say "nil by mouth", obey it.
  • Entertainment that works offline. Hospital Wi-Fi is a lottery, so download the podcast, the episodes or the book before leaving home. Add headphones.
  • A warm layer. Clinical air conditioning does not care that it is July. A hoodie doubles as a pillow.
  • Spare clothes in a bag. If your clothes are wet, bloodied or about to be cut off, a t-shirt and joggers save you the indignity of travelling home in a gown.
  • Coins or a card for the car park — and check parking rules when you arrive, since a visit will outlast most short-stay tickets.

Tier three: matched to your situation

  • Asthma — the blue reliever and spacer, plus your action plan if written down
  • Diabetes — meter, strips, insulin, and fast-acting sugar for hypos; declare the diabetes at the triage desk
  • Epilepsy — rescue medication if prescribed, and a note of recent seizure dates
  • Pregnancy — the handheld or digital maternity notes, always
  • Mental health crisis — your crisis plan and community team details if you have them; our mental health emergencies guide explains what the visit involves
  • Reduced mobility — bring your own stick, frame or chair rather than relying on the department's stock

Taking a child? Layer on nappies, changes of clothes, formula or milk, the comfort object, and the red book — the full kids' list lives in our guide to taking a child to A&E. Accompanying an older relative? Their glasses, hearing aids and dentures (in named cases) plus the medicine boxes are the priorities — see the older adults guide.

Leave behind

  • Anything precious. Rings, heirlooms, serious cash, the good laptop. Waiting rooms are public places, and the hospital's lost-property form is cold comfort.
  • Anything that could read as a weapon. Departments have security staff and, sometimes, searches.
  • The instinct to hide what you've taken. Leave alcohol and drugs at home, but tell staff honestly about anything already in your system. It is confidential medical information, it changes which treatments are safe, and clinicians are not the police.

The two-minute grab, and the zero-minute bag

Stick this somewhere findable — a phone note, the inside of a cupboard door:

  1. Phone, cable, power bank
  2. Medicine boxes (or the photos)
  3. Water and a snack
  4. Warm layer
  5. Wallet, NHS number, keys
  6. Headphones
  7. Bag with spare clothes

Better still, if your household lives with a condition that makes emergencies plausible — heart disease, severe asthma, epilepsy, a fragile pregnancy — pre-pack a small bag and let it live by the door: medication list, latest clinic letter, charger, snack, water, jumper. Swap the perishables every few months. When the bad night comes, you pick it up and go, thinking about the person and not the packing.

Arrived with nothing? You're still fine

Plenty of people reach A&E with only what they were wearing — that is how emergencies work, and departments are built for it. Records can be fetched electronically, blankets exist, water is free, and reception desks have rescued many a dying phone. If someone can follow on later, have them bring three things in this order: the medicines, a charger, something warm.

Key takeaways

  • The medicines list (or the boxes themselves) is the one item that actively speeds up and safens your care — everything else is comfort.
  • Pack power, water, offline entertainment and a warm layer; a long wait punishes those without them.
  • Match extras to your condition, and leave valuables and secrets at home — honesty about substances is medical, not legal.
  • A pre-packed go-bag turns a panicked scramble into a thirty-second exit.
  • Before setting off at all, check which nearby department is quietest — and if this is your first visit, our first-timer's guide walks through what happens when you arrive.