Lloyd George envelope

Lloyd George envelope with insert

Lloyd George envelopes, named after the British former prime minister David Lloyd George, are paper wallets used by general practitioners in the United Kingdom to record and store medical information on their patients. They were produced in beige card, and distributed to general practices until January 2021. Envelopes for male patients have red print, those for female patients blue print. Each measures 130 mm × 180 mm (5.1 in × 7.1 in) and has provision for additional inserts.

Lloyd George cards were first used for workers who paid into National Health Insurance, a scheme introduced following the National Insurance Act 1911. The envelopes were introduced during the First World War and continued in use following the formation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948.

The records provided an easy to visualise summary, prevented unnecessary lengthy note making, and could be carried in a doctor's coat pocket when out on a home visit. However, limited writing space resulted in brief inconsistent record keeping, and encouraged illegible handwriting.

From the 1950s, as record keeping became more detailed and hospital interventions resulted in more correspondences, the relatively small Lloyd George envelopes became increasingly bulky. They were phased out in the late twentieth century and replaced to some extent with A4 folders, and eventually digitised with the adoption of computerised medical records.