National Advance Care Planning Week, 21-27 March 2022.
Joan lives in supported accommodation in a Residential Aged Care Facility in Toowoomba. She enjoys gardening, taking the Facility bus to the local library, and going out for lunch with her friends once a week, as well as seeing her son Peter regularly for dinner. Joan manages her diabetes with daily medication and regular health checks with her GP.
But the COVID-19 pandemic changes things for Joan. Joan is worried and stays at home more. She misses her regular appointments with her GP.
One day, Peter comes for dinner with Joan and finds her collapsed on the floor, blue and only semi-conscious. Peter rings 000 and once the ambulance arrives, drives directly to the hospital.
On the way, Peter becomes anxious because he doesn’t have any of his mother’s paperwork, but then he remembers discussions he had with his mum the year before about her health care choices and the advance care planning (ACP) documents they had filled in with Joan’s GP. He recalls that he had sent copies of the documents to the Statewide Office of ACP for uploading to the Queensland Health electronic medical record.
On his arrival to the Hospital Emergency Room, Peter is relieved to learn the doctor had already identified him as Joan’s substitute decision maker through Joan’s advance care planning documents.
The doctor says, “I have accessed your mother’s Statement of Choices from the hospital’s electronic medical record, and I see that she wrote she wants all reasonable measures tried to restore her to her active and independent life. We have begun to do just that, and she is responding very well.”
What is advance care planning (ACP)?
Advance care planning involves thinking about future health care choices. It is a process of communicating your wishes, values, beliefs and health care preferences with your family, friends and health care providers and can involve documenting these preferences, if you wish.
Why should you plan ahead?
Planning ahead can help to ensure:
- the treatment and care you receive in the future is in line with your wishes
- your loved ones won’t have to make difficult decisions on your behalf without knowing what you would have wanted
- your words guide those making decisions about your health care when you can’t speak for yourself.
Even if you are fit and healthy, it is never too early to plan your future health care.
Planning ahead can mean:
- discussing your health care and quality of life choices with those closest to you, and
- choosing a substitute decision maker by appointing an Enduring Power of Attorney(s), and/or
- completing an Advance Health Directive, and/or
- writing down your values, beliefs and health care preferences in a Statement of Choices.
Twelve months before Joan’s collapse, her GP had started a discussion with her about advance care planning. Even though Joan was well at the time, the GP said that it would be good to be prepared, just in case. With support from her GP and her family, Joan completed an Enduring Power of Attorney, naming Peter as her substitute decision maker and a Statement of Choices, setting out her preferences for future health care.
Joan and Peter then sent copies of the documents to the Statewide Office of Advance Care Planning. The Office reviewed and uploaded the documents to the Queensland Health electronic medical record so that her documented wishes could be easily accessed by clinicians, both within and external to Queensland Health, when required.
When Joan was bought to the Hospital Emergency Department, the doctor was able to access Joan’s ACP documents quickly and provide the type of care that met with her life goals.
What does the Statewide Office of ACP do?
The Office receives copies of the following ACP documents from all care environments in Queensland:
• Advance Health Directive
• Enduring Power of Attorney
• Statement of Choices
• Queensland Civil and Administration Tribunal Orders.
Documents are reviewed to ensure they are effective and then uploaded to the person’s Queensland Health electronic medical record.
- This is a free and confidential service for all Queenslanders, provided by Queensland Health.
- ACP documents are free to download, or a hard copy information pack can be mailed to you.
More information:
Visit mycaremychoices.com.au
Phone: 1300 007 227 (Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 4:00pm)
