empowering older Australians

The Advance Care Planning Australia Team from Heidelberg, VIC are finalists in the 2019 HESTA Aged Care Awards

Advance Care Planning Australia (ACPA) is recognised for their work empowering older Australians to make informed choices about their future medical treatments and end-of-life care. Funded by the National Palliative Care Projects, the ACPA team delivers a national health program encouraging older Australians to speak up about the care they want and tell others what living well means to them.

Residents do this by creating an Advance Care Directive, which acts as a ‘living will’ where aged care residents can make future decisions about their medical treatment and can appoint a substitute decision-maker to make decisions on their behalf.

In 2018 the ACPA’s National Advisory Service experienced a 460% increase in enquires from the general public and health and aged care providers seeking personalised advice on advance care planning. Public interest continues to grow alongside their website presence, social media engagement and community activities. ACPA is also supported by a highly-skilled volunteer team and plans are underway to recruit and train more volunteers to help more people access the benefits of advance care planning.