Advance Care Planning

Clinical service overview

The Advance Care Planning Service can assist in all or some of the following steps with individuals:

• Talking to family and significant others, including medical professionals, about their values and preferences
• Appointing a Medical Treatment Decision Maker to make medical decisions on their behalf should they become incompetent
• Writing down their values and preferences in an Advance Care Directive
• Distributing copies of the advance care planning documents to key health service providers and decision makers eg Alfred Health, the patient’s GP, Medical Treatment Decision Maker

Anyone can do advance care planning, however, it is of particular importance to those who have a chronic health condition or are regularly admitted to hospital. It is ideal to undertake advance care planning when the individual’s health is stable.