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Advance Care Planning
At Weston Hospice we have been working with patients and their carers to
develop a guide which is designed to facilitate discussions about future care.
Often we find that starting to talk about hopes and fears at the end of life
can be a relief for patients and their families. We hope that these issues can be
broached in advance of a crisis. Clearly everyone is different regarding whether this is
something they feel able to think and talk about, and your wishes for this will be respected.
We want you to have information available to you to enable you to consider the future at a
time that is right for you. Your palliative care specialist nurse may give you a copy of this
leaflet and will be able to talk with you and help you clarify any plans or wishes you may have.
Simply letting those around you know that you have clear wishes about your care may be extremely
helpful. The information sheets also have forms which you can complete which may help you
formalize your plans. You should not feel that any of these forms have to be completed,
although for some people they are a useful way of specifying their wishes and communicating these.
Certain parts of the information may be more relevant to you at a particular time. We recommend
that patients look at the parts that they feel they can tackle and leave the other bits for a later
date. It can be introduced in a variety of ways - for example a patient or their family may want
to think about funeral planning rather than advance wishes and giving the patient the document
provides a good entry into the whole area. Leaving the document with the patient means that it is
possible to ask how they got on with it the following week, so making an easy route for continuing
discussion. It is also helpful for the family to look at it, as it can be a springboard for discussion
of difficult subjects for the whole family.
It is recommended that patients/carers talk through the issues raised in this guide with a friend,
family, doctor or palliative care nurse. This will help ensure clarity in the patient's decision-making
and ensure that family and professionals are more aware of the patient's wishes and concerns.
We will be adapting, updating and modifying the guide according to the feedback we get from using it
with patients, families and health care professionals.
A copy of the latest version of the advance Care Planning guide can be accessed from this page.
It is free to be used and adapted by anyone who needs it.
Additionally we will also be designing a short education package, for use by professionals.
Details of this will be available via this page, in the near future.
To download the advance Care Planning guide, please click here.
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