Health care is in your hands – how to tell others what you want
What health care do you want as you age and how can you be sure you’ll get it? That’s why advance care planning is important.
This week is National Advance Care Planning (ACP) week (March 17-23). It is a great time to learn more about Advance Care Planning and how to put in place our future healthcare preferences, for when we become seriously ill and unable to communicate for ourselves.
Advance care planning helps to ensure that loved ones and health providers know what matters most to you and respect your treatment preferences.
Advance care planning benefits you, your family, carers, and health professionals:
It helps to ensure you receive the care you actually want.
It improves ongoing and end-of-life care, along with personal and family satisfaction.
Families of people who have undertaken advance care planning have less anxiety, depression, stress, and are more satisfied with care.
For healthcare professionals and organisations, it reduces unnecessary transfers to acute care and unwanted treatment.
Ideally, advance care planning will result in your preferences being documented in a plan known as an advance care directive and the appointment of a substitute decision-maker to help ensure your preferences are respected.
If you haven't documented your preferences or identified a substitute decision-maker, and you become seriously ill or injured, doctors will make treatment decisions based on their assessment of your best interests. This may include treatments that you would not want.
Advance care planning requires a team effort – talking with family, friends, doctors, care workers, and other health professionals – which can help you start thinking about what's important to you.
Learn more about starting the conversation.
An early step involves thinking about your values and preferences for care and outcomes, talking about them with others, appointing someone to make decisions on your behalf and documenting everything.
Think about the medical treatment you may or may not want. This is no different to arranging your life insurance or your will. There are no wrong answers to these questions.
Learn more about the advance care planning process.
An advance care directive involves documenting your preferences for future care yourself. You can also formally appoint a substitute decision-maker in an advance care directive.
The process of creating an advance care directive and the names of the required documents varies between states and territories.
Advance care directives are legally binding and the preferences for health care that you document must be followed.
Sounds daunting? You can get support at the National Advance Care Planning Support Service on 1300 208 582.
There are very significant differences between advance care planning and voluntary assisted dying (VAD). Advance care planning is the process of discussing and choosing future health care and medical treatment options.
It is about people making decisions about their medical treatment including future consent to, refusal, or withdrawing of treatment, and substitute decision-making. All people can do advance care planning and all adults (and children in Victoria) with decision-making capacity are eligible to document an advance care directive.
VAD involves a process to access medication and to enable a person to legally choose the manner and timing of their death. VAD laws have now been passed in all of Australia’s six states - Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, and Queensland. In the Australian Capital Territory, legislation was passed on the 5th June 2024 and VAD will be available to ACT residents on the 3rd November 2025. The Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction where it is not yet legal.
Find out how to record your choices in your state or territory.
Find out more about storing your advance care planning documents.
Contact National Advance Care Planning Support Service on 1300 208 582 for more information and advice.
