New and Revised WA Advance Health Directive – Primary and Community Health

WA’s revised Advance Health Directive and refreshed advance care planning resources are now available. The resources aim to empower people to make and document choices about their future health and personal care that reflect their values, beliefs and preferences.

Overview
The WA Department of Health’s End-of-Life Care Program (EOLCP) undertook broad sector consultation on the development of the new AHD and resources before they were launched by the Minister for Health, the Hon Amber-Jade Sanderson, on 4 August 2022.

PaSCE with the support of the WA Department of Health EOLCP are delivering 5 brief & accessible webinars. These sessions will include a case study and discussions with sector experts.

There will be the opportunity for Q&A during the live webinar.

Learning areas
The revised AHD enables individuals to include their values and preferences, in addition to treatment decisions, it combines tick box and free text questions and includes consent to medical research. There are a range of new resources including guides, brochures, webpages and informational videos.

Health professionals can better understand their roles and responsibilities in supporting people through the process of advance care planning with the Health Professional Guide to Advance Care Planning in WA. Consumers can access the Guide to Making an Advance Health Directive in WA, including anexample of a completed AHD and relatable vignettes.

These sessions are designed to raise awareness of the importance of advance care planning, solidify what you will need to know and the impact on your practice.

Presented by
Grace Buchanan

Grace Buchanan is a registered Nurse, trained Midwife and health educator who has worked in many areas of Palliative Care over the last 35 Years in Western Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Grace has worked in many roles throughout her career inclusive of clinical care, clinical management and education across private, public, not for profit, acute, primary and community health sectors.

She is a passionate advocate and educator of palliative care and was the
manager of the PaSCE team at Cancer Council WA for 10 years. She is the
Director of L&E Grace Consultancy, Learning with Grace. Grace is the recipient of Palliative Care Western Australia’s 2021, “Outstanding Palliative Care Professional”. Her ultimate aim is that everyone sees dying as a normal part of living and enabling health professionals to assist everyone to be able to live their best life.

For enquiries contact the Palliative and Supportive Care Education team
T: 08 9382 9300
E: pasce@cancerwa.asn.au