Record your choices in Western Australia

Record your wishes and preferences

In Western Australia, there are various ways for a person with decision-making capacity to record future health and personal care wishes.

You may choose to complete one of the following:

• an Advance Health Directive (AHD)
• a Values and Preferences form.

An Advance Health Directive is a legal document that lets you record instructions about consenting to or refusing medical treatments generally, or in certain situations.

An interpreter/translator statement [PDF 109 KB] should be completed if they assisted you with translation of an Advance Health Directive.

For more information, visit WA Advance Health Directive. You can:

• watch WA Advance Health Directive: what it is and how to get started
• download the Advance Health Directive Form [PDF 1.2 MB]
• use the Guide to making an Advance Health Directive
• use the Guide to Advance Care Planning in Western Australia [PDF 3.0 MB] to assist you through the process.

A Values and Preferences form allows you to record your values, preferences and wishes about your future health care and things that are important to you. It isn’t a legal document but can assist your substitute decision-maker and health care team understand the choices you might make.

A person completing an AHD does not need to complete a Values and Preferences Form as it contains the same questions as part 3 of the AHD.

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

Appoint a substitute decision-maker

In WA, an Enduring Power of Guardianship allows you to appoint someone you choose as your substitute decision-maker. It’s a legal document giving your enduring guardian the authority to consent to or refuse treatment on your behalf. You must specify the functions you’re going to give to your enduring guardian.

You can appoint more than one enduring guardian as joint enduring guardians, but they must act jointly. You can appoint a substitute enduring guardian.

The Office of the Public Advocate provides information to help you make an Enduring Power of Guardianship. Read more about the Enduring Power of Guardianship on their website.

Download A Guide to Enduring Power of Guardianship in Western Australia to access the form and its accompanying guide.

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

Storing and sharing your documents

Read our general recommendations about storing and sharing your documents.

Making changes to documents

You can’t add to or change the decisions in your Advance Health Directive or Enduring Power of Guardianship after it’s been signed and witnessed. If you need to change either document, you should cancel (revoke) it and make a new one. You can only revoke an Advance Health Directive or Enduring Power of Guardianship if you still have full legal capacity.

There’s a statement in the Advance Health Directive that allows you to indicate that you’re cancelling a previous version. Old copies should be destroyed.

An Enduring Power of Guardianship ends if:

• you revoke the original and replace it with a new document
• the enduring guardian is unable to act due to loss of decision-making capacity
• the enduring guardian resigns from their appointment
• the State Administrative Tribunal revokes the Enduring Power of Guardianship or the Enduring Guardian/s.

If you cancel your Enduring Power of Guardianship, it's recommended that you give written notification to all enduring guardians and substitute enduring guardians.

Learn more about making changes to documents.