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Are your family all on the same page?

Do you know what end-of-life care your mum, dad, spouse or partner would want? Do you know where they’d draw the line? And if you do know, do you have the legal authority to ensure their wishes are carried out?

Your family needs an Advance Care Plan.
Touchstone Life Care for Family

What is an Advance Care Plan?

An Advance Care Plan is a document where your loved one:

TLC Advance Care Plan

Sets out their wishes for end-of-life care that’s in line with their values.

One source of truth – other important forms can be uploaded to TLC including a VAD (in WA) or an Advanced Care Plan done with your GP

Nominates one or more substitute decision makers.

It’s more than that though.

Preparing an Advance Care Plan is a chance for families to have loving, forgiving, healing conversations that draw you all closer and help everyone prepare for the future.

It will be a difficult day if or when your loved one can no longer speak for themselves. You’ll be experiencing many different and intense emotions.

But, with an advance care plan in place, you won’t face harrowing decisions where you’re unsure what your loved one would choose, nor will you be watching helplessly while doctors impose treatments that you don’t think they’d want.

discussion about end-of-life care

A tale of two families

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No Advance Care Plan in place

‘It was a horrendous experience to go through with nothing in place to know what she would have liked to happen and no authority to make any decisions on her behalf.’

Touchstone Video
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A Touchstone Life Care Advance Care Plan in place

‘We knew ahead of time, before we were put in that situation in the hospital, what Dad wanted. And it made it so much easier.’

Which position would you rather be in?

Advance-Care-Plan-help

How does an Advance Care Plan help?

People without an Advance Care Plan leave some of the most important choices of their life in other people’s hands. They’re immensely vulnerable.

An Advance Care Plan:

Touchstone Life Care's plan covers all the bases

Touchstone Life Care’s wayThe traditional way

Designed as a guided conversation so it’s easy to answer the questions.

Forms may be 20 pages long with unclear questions that prove unhelpful to your doctors and family. 

Final version presents the most vital information (like whether you want to be resuscitated) on page 1 so your doctors can quickly see what you want.

Lengthy forms prove useless in an emergency as your doctors don’t have time to read page after page when they have to make split-second decisions about your care.

Digital plan that can be accessed & updated from anywhere, anytime by:

  • QR code
  • Touchstone Life Care app
  • Inclusion in My Health Record
  • Print out of plan or QR code.

Paper copy that’s easily misplaced in an emergency or may never be found.

Most up-to-date version is available at all times.

Outdated copy may be left in your file and used to guide your care.

Instantly and easily shared with many of your trusted contacts.

Your family, GP, lawyer or carers may not know you have written a plan or be able to find it.

Legally accepted as a Common Law Advance Care Directive wherever you are in Australia.

May only apply in the state it was written in – useless if something happens to you when you’re interstate.

One source of truth – other important forms can be uploaded to Touchstone Life Care including a VAD (in WA) or an Advance Care Plan done with your GP.

Important documents kept in different places. Unclear which one matters most.

Kept securely online and complies with all privacy requirements.

Security is easily compromised.

How do you open a discussion
about end-of-life care?

How do you open a discussion

You’re convinced it would be a good idea for your loved one to have an advance care plan in place – how do you broach the topic with them?

To help you get started, we’ll give you FREE access to our training course on Advance Care Planning for Individuals and Families.

It’s an online course that you can complete at your own pace and covers 5 key areas of advance care planning.

If you don’t have time to do the course, let us reassure you that these conversations are rarely as difficult as you think they’re going to be. Often these discussions are invaluable opportunities to understand one another on a deeper level and express how much you mean to one another.

Tips for talking to a loved one
about end-of-life care

Tips for talking to a loved one about end-of-life care
Treat it as a normal, albeit important, conversation. Pick a good time to introduce the topic when you’ve got time to talk and time to listen.
Tips for talking to a loved one about end-of-life care
You might say something like, ‘I’ve been thinking about how we’d respond if something happened to you and urgent medical decisions had to be made. I’m not at all clear about what you’d want me to do in that situation. Maybe we could make an advanced care plan together so your wishes would be clear to everyone.’
Tips for talking to a loved one about end-of-life care
Read up on advance care planning so that you can answer any questions your loved one may have. Encourage them to chat to their GP or carers about it too.
Tips for talking to a loved one about end-of-life care

Go through Touchstone Life Care’s care planning process with them if they’d like. Often, it’s a valuable opportunity for important conversations – you’d be surprised what a positive experience it can be.

Tips for talking to a loved one about end-of-life care

Lead by example – do your own ACP too. It’s not just elderly people or those with terminal illnesses who should have an ACP. Life can change in a heartbeat. We should all have an ACP in place, just in case.

Advance Care Plan Journey

We can support your

Advance Care Plan journey

If you would like support completing your Advance Care plan, we have experienced Consultants who can help you through the process.

Just like compiling a Will, sometimes you prefer support going through the process.

Sessions are 1 hour and $350 for one on one personalised telehealth support.

Create your Advance Care Plan

Our easy secure questionnaire can take as little as 10 minutes to complete, or as long as you and loved ones need.