Advance care directive

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Making your future health and life choices known will be easier from 1 July 2014.

Although you may not like to think about it, there could be times in your life when you are unable to make your own decisions either:

• for a short time because of a sudden accident, a serious mental health episode or from the effects of strong medications
• slowly over time because of dementia or similar condition; or
• permanently because of a sudden serious stroke or because you are in a coma.

If this happened to you, how would you want decisions to be made for you about your health care, living arrangements or other personal matters? Who would you want and trust to make these decisions for you?

Having an Advance Care Directive can make it easier for others to know and act upon your wishes if they have to make these decisions for you about your future health and lifestyle. It can also give you peace of mind that your wishes will be known and be respected if decisions need to be made for you by others in the future.

To assist you to fill in your Advance Care Directive, a draft Do-it-yourself Advance Care Directive Kit has been developed.

The draft Kit includes:

• general information
• a step by step guide to help you complete the form with suggested example statements you can write on the form or to help you to think about what you may want to write
• the draft Advance Care Directive form
• extra information for witnesses, substitute decision-makers and interpreters.

To make sure we get the DIY Kit right, we invite you, your families and friends to read the information, and then tell us via the blog below whether you think it is easy to use or how you think it could be improved.

For more information or hard copies of the draft Kit please contact the Policy and Legislation Unit, SA Health at email: policy&legislation@health.sa.gov.au or phone: 08 8226 6717.