What is an Advance Care Directive?

An Advance Care Directive (ACD) is a legal document that allows you to:

• make clear arrangements for your future medical and health care decisions;
• write down your wishes, preferences, and instructions for end of life, living arrangements, and other personal matters; and
• appoint Substitute Decision-Makers to make informed decisions on your behalf when you are unable to do so yourself.

We have received 302 responses for the period of our consultation. Majority of the respondents do not have a completed Advance Care Directives. The top reasons why people have not completed their Advance Care Directive were because they have never got around it, they already have an Enduring Power of Guardianship, or they were not aware that it existed.

Majority of the respondents believed that free access to Advance Care Directive toolkit in Council venues would best help them complete the form. Access to a knowledgeable person, a presentation or workshop, and availability of hardcopy information in plain English or other language were deemed to be the best resources to assist people.

On the other hand, majority of the respondents with current Advance Care Directive have completed their form at the lawyer or solicitor’s office, while some have used the Advance Care Directive Guide witnessed by JP, and few filled their form in a hospital setting. 12% of the respondents found it difficult to complete the ‘Dying wishes’ and ‘What is important to me?’ sections, while majority did not have any trouble filling up all sections.

From the survey, we have 192 people who want to receive updates on the project, 118 of these do not have a completed Advance Care Directive and would like to attend future workshops for assistance.

We are providing free resources and supporting residents understand how to complete an Advance Care Directive through free information sessions. These workshops are based around sharing awareness, experiences and information in a welcoming environment with interactive resources with facilitators.

This workshop will discuss what an Advance Care Directive is, when it does take effect, how to store and share your form, and provide understanding on how to complete it section per section. Resources will include examples and practice exercise so you can start drafting the things that you would want to include in your document.

*Please note that workshops are not for witnessing completed Advance Care Directive forms.

For more information, contact Hannah Cortes, Community Engagement Officer, Ageing Well at 0417 878 077 or hcortes@charlessturt.sa.gov.au.