Advance Care Plan
Advance Care Planning is a very simple process in 5 steps with 5 key elements
5 Simple Steps
5 Key Elements to think about:
- Advance Statement
You can write down your Personal Care Plan with information about you and your lifestyle, including your thoughts, preferences and wishes, beliefs and values regarding your future care.
This is known as an Advance Statement. It is not legally binding but anyone involved with or making decisions about your care must take it into account if you were unable to tell them yourself.
There are other decisions you may wish to make that you should also include
- Contact details for relatives and other interested parties – particularly if they are your named spokesperson or representative for a Lasting Power of Attorney
- Your religious preferences including your spiritual adviser
- Whether you have a Will and where it is held
- Decisions about organ and tissue donation
- Decisions you have made about your funeral
- Any other important wishes
https://advancecareplan.org.uk/
2. Your Right to Refuse Treatment
The Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment (ADRT) is a legally binding written decision outlining any decision you make to refuse specific treatment. In an ADRT you can:
- say which treatments you don't want to receive if that time comes
- say in what circumstances you would refuse treatment
- refuse treatment that could potentially keep you alive (such as a ventilator)
You cannot use an ADRT to request to end your life.
If you want to make an ADRT, you must discuss it with your health professional so that your wishes are properly recorded and legally binding on healthcare professionals that might treat you in the future.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/short-term-options-for-health-welfare-and-financial-decisions
3. Do Not Attempt Resuscitation
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a treatment that aims to start breathing and blood flow in people who have stopped breathing or whose heart has stopped beating. In your Care Plan you can make clear any circumstances in which you would wish to refuse CPR. This is called a do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) decision.
4. Planning for Emergencies
You can also use your Care Plan to identify how you would like to be treated if there is a medical emergency such as a stroke, or accident, and you are unable to express choices. Like and ADRT this should be made in discussion with your doctor or a health professional you trust and who knows your medical history.
5. Naming a Spokesperson or appointing a Lasting Power of Attorney
A Spokesperson is someone you ask to speak on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself. They should be someone who knows and understands your preferences and wishes. This not a legally binding position, but they can advise about decisions around your care.
The Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document which authorises someone else (often a relative or relatives) to make decisions on your behalf should you become unable to.
- An LPA for health and welfare gives someone else the right to make decisions about your healthcare and other aspects of your welfare. For example, decisions about medical treatment or moving into a care home. It also allows them to access your health records.
- An LPA for financial matters or property and financial affairs allows someone to make decisions about your money and property for you. For example, managing your bank account
The law on Lasting Power of Attorney differs slightly between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
What to do now
Speak to your GP or health professional that knows your medical history. Your Advance Care Plan can be changed at any time and will be reviewed with you every year to ensure it reflects your wishes. This is your ACP Care Plan please keep a copy in your house.