There are many resources that are available to assist those considering advance care planning. Some of these are below. Please note, these links will take you out of the St Vincent's Hospital site.
1) Who will speak for me about my healthcare if I cannot speak for myself? This St Vincent’s Health Network information page provides information for patients, families, carers and friends. The information talks about the laws about who your healthcare team should talk with to make decisions about your health, your care and your treatment if you become too ill to make your own decisions. It also explains how you can appoint someone to speak for you who you trust to represent your wishes.
2) Information for patients, families and carers about Advance Care Planning developed by the NSW Ministry of Health. https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/patients/acp/Pages/default.aspx This site includes the Aboriginal Wills Handbook and Taking Care of Business - these are cultural appropriate planning ahead documents. Also included is an introductory guide, entitled Dignity, Respect and Choice: Advance Care Planning for End of Life for people with mental illness.
3) Start2Talk is a part of the Alzheimer’s Australia website developed to help all Australians, not only those with Alzheimers’s Disease, start the conversations involved in planning ahead. The website has step-by-step guidance and some very practical and helpful worksheets to assist you with planning issues that relate to your home life as well as your healthcare. A planning worksheet booklet from this site can be found here.
4) Advance care planning is a website that has been developed by NSW Health Office to provide information and advice for future legal, health and financial decisions. This site also has information about Planning Ahead available in a number of community languages in addition to English, including: Arabic; Chinese Simplified; Chinese Traditional; Croatian, Dari, German, Greek; Hindi, Italian; Korean; Macedonian; Spanish; Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
5) An Advance Care Plan developed by Catholic Health Australia: https://www.cha.org.au/publications-355446/273-advance-care-planning-documents
6) The Guardianship Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has a website with fact sheets and information about enduring guardianship, power of attorney and consent to medical treatments.
7) Making an Advance Care Directive developed by NSW Health, includes an Advance Care Directive Form and an information booklet to help complete the form. The My Health Record allows a person to upload an ACP and/or an ACD as part of their health information under the ‘Advance Care Planning Documentation’ section. It provides guidance on access procedures for ACDs/ACPs on My Health Record in both emergency and nonemergency.