Key points
- Advance care planning is a way to think about and record your health care preferences
- It comes into effect if you can't make decisions for yourself
- You can do it formally or informally
Planning for your future
Advance care planning involves planning for your future health care. It allows you to decide what health care you would or wouldn't want if you become unable to make or communicate your treatment preferences in the future.
Advance care planning gives you the opportunity to think about, discuss and record preferences for the type of care you would want and the outcomes you would consider acceptable. It helps to ensure your loved ones and health providers know what matters most to you and respect your treatment preferences.
Advance care planning is about your wishes and preferences. It’s about giving you a voice in decisions about your health care when you can’t speak for yourself.
Why it's important
Advance care planning benefits everyone: you, your family, carers and health professionals.
- Your peace of mind: It gives you the comfort of having a plan in place.
- Your voice is heard: It helps to ensure you receive the care you actually want.
- Easing the burden for your decision makers: Your family and friends are more confident and less stressed or confused because you’ve made your wishes clear.
Research shows that advance care planning improves the quality of care and personal and family satisfaction with care. Research also shows that advance care planning can reduce unwanted treatments and transfers to hospital.
Who should consider advance care planning?
Everyone should consider advance care planning, regardless of your age or health. Ideally, you should start planning when you're healthy – before there's an urgent need for decisions to be made at a time when you can’t communicate your choices.
It’s never too early, but it can be too late.
It’s particularly important if you:
- are older
- have a chronic illness
- have multiple diseases
- have an early cognitive impairment
- are approaching the end of your life
- have specific religious, spiritual, cultural, or values-based wishes and preferences about health care.
It may also be important to consider advance care planning, and in particular, documenting your choices, if you:
- don’t have anyone who will be able to act as a substitute decision-maker for you
- have a family where there will be many different views about what should happen
- are concerned about people not respecting your choices and decisions, for example if you have a disability, or if you have communication difficulties.
The advance care planning process
Advance care planning is an ongoing process. It can look different for everyone – it’s your choice how and when you do advance care planning. You can include some or all of the following steps.
Advance care planning and advance care directives
Advance care planning is a process and it can involve thinking and talking about future health care choices. It may or may not involve formal documents.
An advance care directive is a formal document you can use to record your preferences for future health care. It can include your values, life goals and preferred outcomes, and specific directions or instructions about care and treatments. You can also formally appoint a substitute decision-maker in an advance care directive in some states. There are different names used for advance care directives in different states and territories.
Advance care directives can include legally binding instructions which must be followed.
Find out more about advance care planning and the law
Find out more about recording your choices
When advance care planning takes effect
Advance care planning comes into effect if decisions are needed about your health care and either:
- you're unable to make decisions yourself or communicate – for example if you have a stroke or you’re unconscious
- a health professional assesses you and confirms that you’re unable to make your own decision – for example if you have a condition such as advanced dementia.
Until that time, you have full control over your health care choices.
If there’s a decision that needs to be made about your health care and you are not able to make the decision for yourself:
- if you have an advance care directive, doctors will check it for any legally binding decision about the proposed treatment and follow your instructions (there are some exceptions to this)
- a substitute decision-maker can make the decision on your behalf
- doctors can treat you if it’s to save your life or prevent serious harm.
Find out more about the role of substitute decision makers.
Support and more information
We can guide you through advance care planning, from starting conversations, completing the right documents and storing them safely.
Call our National Advance Care Planning Advisory Service on 1300 208 582
Email us at acpa@advancecareplanning.org.au
We're here from 8 am to 4 pm (AEST), Monday to Friday.
Order a free starter pack
We can post you a free advance care planning information pack or you can download a copy yourself.
Learn about advance care planning in your language
Access advance care planning brochures and information in other languages.
Real stories
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“A document that speaks in the silence”: Paul and Heather’s story of planning ahead
On 24 August 2025, Paul suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during a community event. “It was completely unexpected,” he says. “One moment I was chatting, the next I was in emergency intensive care.”
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“You don’t know until you ask”: Christina’s story of care, clarity and planning ahead
"When someone is unwell, there’s so much going on, grief, fatigue, exhaustion. Advance care planning takes away assumptions and gives clarity.”
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“It’s never too early”: Marie shares why planning ahead matters
“My parents never talked about what they wanted at the end of their lives, it was taboo. And when the time came, it was so hard to make the decisions that had to be made.”