About advance care planning
Advance care planning is the process of planning for your current and future health care. It involves talking about your values, beliefs and preferences with your loved ones and doctors. This helps them make decisions about your care when you can’t.
Ideally these conversations start when you are well and then continue throughout your life.
Who needs an advance care plan?
Everyone should consider advance care planning, regardless of your age or health. It can be particularly important if you have:
- an advanced chronic illness
- a life-limiting illness
- a risk of dementia or a related illness
You do not have to have a terminal illness to start talking about your preferences for future health care. Like making a will, advance care planning may simply be a part of planning for the future.
How to start
Start advance care planning by thinking about what you want. You don’t need to make it complicated but it’s important to be open about what you would like.
The next step is to talk to your loved ones. These conversations can sometimes be difficult. Having these conversations is important because this will let them know what your wishes are.
To get some tips about talking to your loved ones about your plan, read more about starting the conversation.
Formalising your plan
If you want to, you can then formalise your advance care plan through an advance care directive . An advance care directive is a type of written advance care plan. It’s sometimes called a living will.
Forms and requirements for writing advance care directives vary between states and territories. For information specific to your state or territory, please visit Advance Care Planning Australia.
Uploading your advance care planning documents to My Health Record
You can add your advance care directive to your My Heath Record so it’s available to your treating doctors if ever needed.
You can also store the names of people you have shared your advance care directive with.
Keeping your advance care planning documents up to date
It’s important to keep your advance care directive up to date. You can change it at any time. You can then give copies of your most up-to-date directive to your family and all your health professionals. The most recent version available is the one that will be followed.
You should review your advance care directive:
- when your preferences change
- if your substitute decision-maker (SDM) changes
- when your medical condition changes.
If you have insufficient decision-making capacity and haven’t completed an advance care directive
Your substitute decision-maker may document your preferences in an advance care plan. These preferences aren’t legally-binding but may be useful in informing your care. It’s important your SDM knows your preferences.
Where to get help, support, and advice
For further help on making an advance care plan go to Advance Care Planning Australia.
What we are doing about advance care planning
The Australian government funds the following projects to support advance care planning: