Frequently Asked Questions

Annual membership fees are £36 per year. If you pay by Direct Debit, the fee will be just £33 per year, which means you get 12 months for the price of 11 months.

It's best to consider the information that those caring for you would benefit from if you are in an emergency or couldn’t speak for yourself. This may include next-of-kin information, medical conditions, allergies or any medications you may take. You can also include documents such as implant information, health management plans, clinical reports or Advance Decisions. If in doubt, include any information or documents you hold and don’t forget that you can always call or email us if you have any questions. Our team of Registered Nurses will review your information to ensure it is prioritised for use during an emergency. This ensures your most vital details will be engraved on your disc, with your other important information held on your personal record to allow emergency and medical professionals to quickly and securely access more details, if required.

If you have chosen to receive your communications electronically, then you will receive a reminder email 6 weeks before your renewal date and again 5 days before. You will also receive an alert if your membership lapses. If you have chosen to receive your communications by post, then you will receive a reminder letter 6 weeks before your renewal date, as well as an alert if your membership lapses.

As a MedicAlert member, you are able to check and update your record online on a regular basis to ensure it is up-to-date, via your 'MyMedicAlert' account. This will also enable you to set up a Direct Debit for your membership renewal, track your purchases and much more. Once your 'MyMedicAlert' account is switched on, all membership communications will be via email, helping to reduce costs and save the environment. However, you will still be able to call us, email or write to us if you need any assistance with managing your record or ordering medical ID jewellery, just as before. Simply click on 'MyMedicAlert' at the top of any page and follow the instructions for existing members.

If you need any assistance updating your record via your 'My MedicAlert' account, or with ordering jewellery please contact us and speak to a Membership Service Advisor and they will be able to help you. Scroll down to the bottom of our website to locate our contact details.

All members are provided with a unique GB membership number when they join - this is your member ID. This number will be printed on your wallet card, engraved on the back of your MedicAlert disc (at the bottom) and printed on any paperwork we send you.

MedicAlert provides a global service so you can join MedicAlert UK from anywhere in the world. However, we do have affiliates in several countries around the world so it is advisable to check for your nearest MedicAlert first, as this may offer you a more cost-effective service as there will be no currency exchange rates/fees to consider.

Unfortunately not, but you may not need to. All MedicAlert jewellery comes with a unique membership number and emergency phone line related to the country you a member within. The emergency numbers can be called from anywhere in the world. Therefore, if you will not be in the UK permanently, you may wish to retain your current membership. Should you wish to join MedicAlert UK, you will need to join as a new member and purchase a new piece of medical ID jewellery in order to ensure that you have the UK related emergency phone line and membership number engraved on your disc.

As a charity, MedicAlert's purpose is to help save lives and care for those living with medical conditions. There are thousands of vulnerable individuals throughout the UK who could benefit from the peace of mind we provide but, unfortunately, have difficulties doing so due to their financial situation. Leaving a legacy gift in your will would be an incredibly generous way to support those in need of our service. If you decide to leave some money to MedicAlert, you will need to include this in your will. Your may need to let your solicitor know so that they can make the necessary changes, or you can see suggested wording for your will at www.medicalert.org.uk/legacy-gifts/.

Please remember that our Registered Nurses are here to review the information within your MedicAlert record and provide recommendations to ensure the information is appropriate for use in emergencies. However, they are not able to give you specific medical advice on your conditions or treatment. If you need personal medical assistance, please contact your usual health care provider, such as your GP.

MedicAlert jewellery and membership go hand-in-hand to protect you in an emergency, therefore we do not sell our jewellery without membership. The central element of membership is your full medical record, checked by our Registered Nurses. Your jewellery is engraved with your most vital medical information along with a unique membership number which is used by those caring for you to access your full record in an emergency. You can update your full record as often as you require, and any changes are reviewed by our nurses to ensure they are medically accurate and correctly prioritised.

Our member’s security is central to our service. If you’re unsure that you’re really talking to MedicAlert, just let us know that you’d like to terminate the call. You can then call us back using the phone number printed on any documentation we’ve sent you or on the website. Your security is our priority, so please do not hesitate to ask us any questions you may have to reassure yourself that the call is legitimate. We do not make unsolicited calls to people who are not currently members or the designated contact of a member.

Most nursing homes hold your medical information and so you may think that it's no longer necessary to keep your MedicAlert membership and wear your ID. However, the potential for high turnover of staff and the fact that your medical information will not likely be kept with you can often mean that it takes a long time to access your vital details in an emergency. This can be especially true if you have an emergency overnight or during times such as shift change. Therefore, many MedicAlert members decide to keep their membership active and always still wear their ID, so that their important medical information can be accessed by those caring for them anywhere, at any time, without delay.

We may monitor or record calls with you to check we have carried out your instructions, to resolve queries or disputes, to improve the quality of our service, training or for regulatory or fraud prevention purposes

Our Emergency Helpline does NOT provide medical advice. Our Emergency Helpline is for medical professionals to call up and find out more information about the person they are caring for. This may be medication details, more conditions / allergies or even emergency contact details. This information can not only help to speed up the care given to you, but also to make sure that the care given is the correct care.

We have a variety of disc shapes and sizes that hold different amounts of engraving. You will be able to see how much information will fit on your chosen piece of jewellery during its creation in our shop; when you customise your medical ID, you see an interactive illustration of your engraving. Alternatively, please contact our Membership Service Advisors and they will assist you in finding the best solution for your needs. Rest assured, any information that will not fit on your disc, will be securely held on your full MedicAlert record which can be accessed by our 24/7 emergency helpline number, which is also engraved on your jewellery.

As a benefit to your membership, we offer a 'Disc Exchange' service for Silver and Gold jewellery. This means that you can send us your MedicAlert bracelet or necklace and get the disc swapped for a new one for less than buying a new piece of jewellery. To take advantage of this service, simply go to www.medicalert.org.uk/exchange-disc/.

Different products are better suited to different activities. For example, most Stainless Steel can be worn in water. Please refer to the product descriptions in the shop for specific information or call our team if you have any questions.

There is different care advice information for different products within our shop. You can find information regarding your chosen piece of jewellery within its product listing, under the 'care and cleaning' section. Alternatively, please visit www.medicalert.org.uk/jewellery-guides/ for all care advice information.

Engraving is included at no additional charge for all of our jewellery that includes a disc. Our team of Registered Nurses will review the details you provide us with and prioritise the information for engraving based on the "ABC" principles of emergency treatment. If they believe you have asked for the wrong information to be engraved, they will contact you to discuss it further.

Unfortunately, as a charity, we are unable to provide free replacement jewellery. Please treat your MedicAlert jewellery with care, as you would with other jewellery.

Occasionally we receive items of medical ID jewellery or wallet cards that have been lost and found, sent to us by a kind individual. We make every effort to contact the respective owner of the ID so that we can safely arrange for it to be sent back to them. If we cannot establish contact with the member, we hold onto the ID and continue to try reaching them for 6 months. After this time we destroy the items. If you have lost your ID, please don't hesitate to contact us as it may have already been returned to us.

Due to the nature of MedicAlert membership, we only engrave our own collection of jewellery. Every product we provide comes with the quality assurance of the registered and internationally recognised MedicAlert logo. This also ensures that you are receiving an item of jewellery that has been meticulously checked and adheres to our requirements for quality and durability.

To deliver the quality and finish that you would expect from MedicAlert jewellery, our metal types may contain small amounts of nickel and other base metals. Many of our members with metal allergies successfully wear gold or silver items, but this depends on how severe your sensitivity is. You may prefer to choose a "barrier" product; where there is limited or no metal contact with the skin, for example, our Sports Bands. If you would like any advice, please do contact our Membership Service Advisors who will be able to assist you.

If you need any assistance with ordering the right size bracelet or necklace, please see our guides at www.medicalert.org.uk/jewellery-guides/.

If you replace your medical ID jewellery due to a change in the engraving, it is important that you no longer wear the out-of-date item and you do not allow anyone else, including children, to wear it. This could lead to misdiagnosis in an emergency. We advise members to dispose of any jewellery that has incorrect information engraved on it. Alternatively, you can send your old medical ID jewellery to us to dispose of securely.

We do not recommend that you engrave any phone number on your disc, including 999. Our emergency number is already engraved on every disc and is there for use by emergency professionals. Adding telephone numbers onto the disc can confuse the emergency professionals and may clutter it with unnecessary information. The most important information to go on your disc is your vital medical information.

We offer the following options: Standard UK postage: £2.85 - - - Special Recorded UK postage: £7.75 (Automatically applied to orders with a value of more than £45.00 - requires a signature) - - - International postage: £11.75

Due to the bespoke nature of our jewellery, each item is made specifically for the order. We aim to despatch all orders within 10 working days, however there may be circumstances when it may take a little longer. We will contact you if there are significant delays to your order.

MedicAlert is a charity and therefore we do all we can to reduce the costs we have to pass on to our members. We are also very aware of the effects we all have on the environment and continually strive to ensure we do what we can to reduce these impacts. MedicAlert has taken the decision to use as little packaging as possible whilst ensuring that medical ID jewellery reaches members in the best condition possible. Our stainless steel products are despatched within a linen bag and placed in an envelope with member documents, whilst all Silver and Gold products are placed in a velvet pouch and are despatched in a recycled card box along with their corresponding documents. This provides for safe transport as well as a storage pouch should you ever not be wearing your jewellery.

Your MedicAlert jewellery is custom engraved, therefore it cannot be reused. Unless your jewellery has a fault covered by warranty, then we cannot accept returns on engraved or personalised goods.

We guarantee that your jewellery will be made to the highest standards by our expert jewellers. MedicAlert provides a warranty on all manufacturer defects from the dispatch date as follows: • 3 months for beaded items • 6 months for Sports Bands, Activity Bands and Athena Leather Bracelets • 12 months for all other jewellery. The Warranty covers: defects in the material or workmanship of clasps, chains, straps or wires, watch batteries and the readability of the disc. The Warranty does not cover: repairs made by anyone other than our skilled jewellery team; products damaged from everyday wear and tear; tarnishing of silver; scratching of the disc, enamel, chain and attachments; damage resulting from misuse or accidental handling; exposure to lotions and creams; lost/misplaced products; and changes in engraved information after the engraved product is approved.  In the unlikely event that you have a problem with the jewellery within the warranty period, you can return the item to us for inspection and we will either repair or replace it. Your statutory rights are not affected by this guarantee.

If you would like to raise a complaint or concern, you can email info@medicalert.org.uk or call 01908 951045. We will always attempt to resolve the issue as soon as possible. If we cannot find a resolution or you are not happy with the resolution provided, you can ask for the complaint to be escalated. You will receive a written acknowledgement of your complaint within 3 working days. We will then aim to investigate the issue within 28 days, setting out how the problem may be resolved.

No. As we cannot guarantee the safe receipt of any cash sent in the post we do not accept any cash payments. However, it is easy to make payments through our online system or over the telephone by speaking to one of our Membership Service Advisors directly.

MedicAlert will complete the customs declaration that is required for any orders we send outside of the UK. Customs duties, local taxes and handling fees may be applicable when your order is delivered, dependant on your local laws and regulations. MedicAlert cannot be responsible for these and any payments that are required will be your responsibility. You may be able to find up to date information regarding these fees on your local government websites. 

As a UK based charity service provider, MedicAlert charges VAT on our products and services. If you live outside of the UK, you may be able to reclaim some or all of this VAT from the tax office or government department within your country of residence. You may be able to find more information on your local government websites.