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Advance Care Directives
Advance Care Planning - gives an individual the opportunity to express their desired health care wishes should they be unable to in the future. This can be done using an Advance Care Directive or a Plan of Treatment depending on the person's mental capacity.
What is an Advance Care Directive?
• An Advance Care Directive ('Living Will') is a written statement regarding someone's wishes for their own future health care.
• An Advance Care Directive can be made now by anyone who has the capacity to do so.
• An Advance Care Directive is only used if, at some point in the future, the person becomes incapable of making health care decisions for themselves (through illness or accident).
Why have an Advance Care Directive?
• Many people wish to have a say in their future medical treatment should they have a serious illness or injury.
• Families , friends and carers often are very grateful and value the opportunity to discuss, understand and be guided by an Advance Care Directive for their loved ones.
• Health care professionals can benefit from knowing the expressed wishes of their patients/clients.
• An Advance Care Directive can assist in avoiding, or at least reducing, a great deal of physical and emotional suffering, unwanted or ill advised treatment and unnecessary or unhelpful health expenditure.
The documents in this package will assist individuals', health care professionals and aged care facilities in addressing this important issue.
All documents in the package can be downloaded free for use (approx size: 300kb). We ask that you acknowledge the source.
The package provides a fact sheet, resources, a template of an Advance Care Directive and an explanation and example of a Plan of Treatment Plan, for those without capacity to do an Advance care Directive. A User Guide is included to assist in package use.
End-of-Life Pathway (adapted from England's Liverpool Care Pathway by Central Coast Palliative Care Service)
See also Caresearch website - palliative care knowledge network
