Advance care planning | Te whakamahere tiaki i mua i te wā taumaha

Advance care planning is a process of thinking and talking about your values and goals and what your preferences are for current and future health care. Advance care planning helps you, your whānau and your health care team plan for your future health and wellbeing, including your end-of-life care.

You can write down what is important to you, what concerns you when you think about your health changing and what your future health care preferences are in an advance care plan. Having an advance care plan makes it much easier for everyone to know what you want – especially if you can no longer communicate this yourself.

You can do an advance care plan when you are well, or if you have a diagnosis or long-term condition. It can be reviewed if your health changes and new decisions have to be made. You can share the ways you would like those caring for you to look after your physical, emotional, spiritual and cultural needs.

Your advance care plan can also cover what sort of funeral you would like, whether you want to donate your organs, whether you want to be buried or cremated, where your important papers are and whether you have in place an enduring power of attorney or advance directive.

For more information about advance care planning and advance care plans visit www.myacp.org.nz 

If you are admitted to hospital or move into aged residential care, your health care team might talk with you about shared goals of care. Shared goals of care are a type of targeted advance care planning conversation that focuses on your current health situation. These discussions help you, your whānau and your clinical team explore what matters most to you right now and agree on the care and treatment that best reflects your wishes during your current stay. This is especially important if you become more unwell or if treatment decisions need to be made quickly.

To learn more about shared goals of care, visit What are shared goals of care.