Record your choices in the Australian Capital Territory

Record your wishes and preferences

In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), there are 2 documents that a person with decision-making capacity can use to record future health and personal care wishes.

You may choose to:

• complete a Health Direction to state a decision to refuse medical treatments
• complete a Statement of Choices to outline your wishes for care.

A Health Direction is a legal document that lets you give instructions about refusing or stopping medical treatment in certain situations. In the ACT, only instructions to refuse or withhold treatments are legally binding. Instructions to consent aren’t legally binding.

A Statement of Choices (Competent Adults) form allows you to record what matters most to you. You can include choices about quality of life, and treatments you’d want or not want to receive in the future. The Statement of Choices (Competent Adults) isn’t a legally binding document. It provides guidance to substitute decision-makers and clinicians about your views, wishes and preferences for care if you’re unable to make health care decisions for yourself.

For information and tips on completing the required documents, including frequently asked questions, read the Advance Care Planning (ACP) in the ACT booklet [PDF 6.49 MB].

Learn more about expressing your values and preferences or making specific instructions.

Appoint a substitute decision-maker

In the ACT, an Enduring Power of Attorney is a person you appoint to become your substitute decision-maker if you’re no longer able to make decisions. Your attorney can consent to or refuse treatment on your behalf.

You can appoint one or more adults to this role. Their role may include management of your financial, personal, health care or medical research matters.

An interpreter must complete an interpreter/translator statement if they helped you complete the Enduring Power of Attorney Form.

The ACT Public Trustee and Guardian can help you make an Enduring Power of Attorney. Read more about the services they offer on their website.

For more information about substitute decision-makers, read about choosing someone to speak for you.

Storing and sharing your documents

In the ACT you can:

• send copies to the ACT Advance Care Planning Program
• upload documents to MyDHR.

If you’ve prepared an Enduring Power of Attorney with the ACT Public Trustee and Guardian, you can also store your advance care planning documents with them. Email copies to ptg@act.gov.au.

Read our general recommendations about storing and sharing your documents.

Making changes to documents

In the ACT, completing a new Health Direction automatically replaces the older version.

Your Enduring Power of Attorney document ends if:

• you cancel it by completing a new document
• the attorney is unable to act due to loss of decision-making capacity
• the attorney resigns from their appointment.

Learn more about making changes to documents.

Options if a person has impaired decision-making capacity

If a person is no longer able to make or communicate their decisions, an attorney can record choices about care and medical treatments on their behalf. They do this using the Statement of Choices (No Legal Capacity) form.

Learn more about options for a person who can't make their own decisions.

Learn more about the role of the substitute decision-maker when a person is unable to make or communicate decisions.