Lily Design System

Care Card

A care card is a healthcare-oriented component for displaying medical guidance with varying levels of urgency. Inspired by the NHS England design system, care cards communicate health advice in three tiers: non-urgent (speak to a GP), urgent (visit A&E or call 111), and immediate (call 999).

Each care card has a heading that describes the action and a body containing the relevant advice or conditions. The data-type attribute allows consumers to apply urgency-appropriate styling (e.g., blue for non-urgent, red for immediate). The card is rendered as a <section> landmark with an accessible label derived from the heading.

Implementation Notes

  • NHS England inspired pattern for healthcare guidance
  • Three urgency levels: non-urgent, urgent, immediate
  • Renders as <section role="region"> with heading for landmark navigation
  • aria-label defaults to the heading text, overridable via the label prop
  • Uses <h2> for the heading element
  • data-type attribute exposes the urgency level for consumer CSS styling
  • Content is provided through child elements

Props

  • type: "non-urgent" | "urgent" | "immediate" (default: "non-urgent") -- urgency level
  • heading: string (required) -- heading text for the care card
  • label: string (optional) -- aria-label override; defaults to heading text
  • children: slot (required) -- the care card body content
  • ...restProps: Any additional HTML attributes passed to the <section> element

Usage

<CareCard type="non-urgent" heading="See a GP if:">
  <ul>
    <li>your symptoms do not improve after 2 weeks</li>
    <li>you have a high temperature for more than 3 days</li>
  </ul>
</CareCard>
<CareCard type="urgent" heading="Ask for an urgent GP appointment or call 111 if:">
  <ul>
    <li>you have difficulty breathing</li>
    <li>you have chest pain</li>
  </ul>
</CareCard>
<CareCard type="immediate" heading="Call 999 if:">
  <ul>
    <li>someone is unconscious</li>
    <li>someone is having a seizure for the first time</li>
  </ul>
</CareCard>

Keyboard Interactions

  • None -- this component is a passive content container

ARIA

  • role="region" -- identifies the card as a named landmark
  • aria-label -- set from label prop or heading prop for screen reader identification
  • data-type -- exposes urgency level for consumer styling hooks

When to Use

  • Use to provide medical care instructions with urgency levels (non-urgent, urgent, emergency)
  • Use when directing users to seek medical help, such as "See a GP" or "Call 999"
  • Use to communicate the appropriate level of medical response for symptoms described on the page
  • Use when medical guidance needs to be visually distinct from surrounding content with clear urgency indicators
  • Use on health information pages where users need actionable next steps based on their symptoms

When Not to Use

  • Do not use for general warnings without medical context -- use WarningCallout instead
  • Do not use for informational callouts or supplementary notes -- use InformationCallout or InsetText
  • Do not use for system alerts or application-level messages -- use Alert or Banner
  • Do not use for patient record banners -- use MedicalBanner with MedicalBannerBoxForDanger

Headless

This headless CareCard component provides the semantic <section> with role="region", accessible labeling from the heading, and a data-type attribute exposing the urgency level. The consumer provides all visual styling including urgency-specific colors (e.g., blue for non-urgent, red for immediate), card borders, spacing, and typography.

Styles

The consumer provides all CSS styling. The component renders with a .care-card class for targeting. No default styles are included — this is a fully headless component.

Testing

  • Verify the component renders a <div> element with class care-card
  • Verify role="region"` -- identifies the card as a named landmark
  • Verify aria-label -- set from label prop or heading` prop for screen reader identification
  • Verify keyboard interactions work correctly
  • Verify pass-through attributes are applied

Advice

  • Designers: Use distinct, high-contrast colors for each urgency level so users can quickly identify severity. Follow NHS design patterns for familiarity in healthcare contexts.
  • Developers: Always set the type prop explicitly to match the clinical urgency. Use the data-type attribute in your CSS selectors to apply urgency-specific styling.

Related components

  • card — a grouped content container with header, body, and footer areas
  • medical-banner — a prominent message bar across the top of a page, with medical information
  • alert — a status message for important information or feedback

References

  • NHS England Care Cards: https://service-manual.nhs.uk/design-system/components/care-cards