Digital care plans
for Margaret

An Advance Care Plan is a document that sets out any medical treatment you do or do not consent to – in advance, to be relied on only in the event you lose decision-making capacity.

An Advance Care Plan can also set out your values. That is, those things that are important to you (and which may influence your choices) – such as being able to communicate with your loved ones. Setting out your values can help inform your doctors, carers and substitute decision-makers about what treatment you would or would not have consented to.

If one day you lose decision-making capacity, an Advance Care Plan can assist those involved with your care to make treatment decisions on your behalf by informing them of your wishes. It is therefore important you share your Advance Care Plan with others so it is readily available in the event you lose capacity (which can happen suddenly and unexpectedly, such as in the case of a head injury).

Your Advance Care Plan can inform your family and doctors what specific treatments you do and do not want. It can also inform them what your values are, so they can be guided in deciding what treatment you would or would not have wanted (if such treatment is not specified in your Advance Care Plan). An Advance Care Plan will assist your family or doctors in making decisions about your medical treatment that are in line with your preferences in the event you cannot speak for yourself.

An ‘Advance Care Plan’ is separate and distinct from a document prepared by health practitioners to plan your care, which is often referred to as a ‘Care Plan’. An Advance Care Plan is not to be confused with a Care Plan (which should include an Advance Care Plan).

While a Care Plan should be prepared taking your preferences into account (particularly if you are in aged care), it is not an Advance Care Plan. An Advance Care Plan can only be completed by you, and sets out your choices only. It does not include an assessment of your needs, which a Care Plan does. While an Advance Care Plan may be completed with support from health practitioners, it cannot be completed by them.

Touchstone Life Care’s Advance Care Plan has been designed with 2 key audiences in mind: you and your doctors.

It helps you identify and explain your values and preferences for care through a guided conversation that starts with gentle questions and builds up to the trickier ones.

Once you’ve completed your Plan, the program rearranges the layout to present the most crucial medical information on the front page so your doctors can quickly find out what you want in an emergency.

With Touchstone Life Care, you benefit from: 

Start your plan today

Yes.

A Touchstone Life Care Advance Care Plan is:

Legally valid as a Common Law Advance Care Directive.
A legally valid expression of your wishes.
Must be considered by health professionals when making decisions about you.
An expression of your consent or your refusal of consent to medical care.

The idea of advance care directives or advance care plans has been around for a long time. No matter whether you call it an Advance Care Directive or an Advance Care Plan they are a valid expression of a person’s consent or of their refusal of consent, in advance of incapacity. Incapacity means you have lost the capacity to make or speak your decisions or wishes.

Your advance care directive or plan can only be used to make decisions about your care when you cannot- ie when you lose capacity.
Health practitioners are obliged to consider any expression of a person’s wishes for medical care. They cannot ignore an expression of consent or refusal of consent no matter what form is used.
Touchstone Life Care’s Advance Care Plans are not the same as a Statutory directive, which are different in every state, (and do not exist at all in NSW and Tasmania) These have a variety of names- some are called Health Care Directives, others a State Advance Care Directive or Personal Statement of Health.

Touchstone Life Care’s unique automated sharing system grants additional legal validity to your plan because your trusted contacts can see, read and discuss the plan ahead of time, thereby vouching that it was prepared without coercion, and that you had capacity at the time you made it. Or, if there is any doubt about your plan they can contact you or the other contacts listed to discuss their concerns about it.

Touchstone provides a platform for documenting and sharing your wishes relating to medical treatment. Touchstone’s Advance Care Plan does not meet the formalities required in state or territory legislation (it is not a statutory Advance Care Plan). If you would like the additional protection of an Advance Care Plan made under statute, you must speak to your GP or lawyer.

Our Advance Care Plan offers a simple and easy mechanism to create a statement of your wishes. However ultimately it is only a court or tribunal that can declare an Advance Care Plan to be legally binding. They might need to do this if the validity of an Advance Care Plan is challenged.

There are other circumstances when a health practitioner is not bound by your Advance Care Plan, namely:

• If the treatment consent to is futile;
  
• If the treatment refused is palliative care;
  
• If decision-making capacity is required of a patient in order to lawfully administer the treatment (eg. voluntary assisted dying in Victoria);
  
• If other laws apply which preclude a health practitioner from relying on the Advance Care Plan.

Touchstone Life Care provides a mechanism for you to share your Advance Care Plan. Once you have completed your Touchstone Life Care Advance Care Plan, you can share it via a secure link with your family, doctors and other trusted advisors. This allows them to view a copy of your Advance Care Plan but does not allow them to access, edit or delete the document.

It is your choice whether you share your Advance Care Plan with anyone at all. However we strongly encourage you to do so. We believe that sharing your Advance Care Plan with loved ones will encourage discussion about your wishes, and reduce the risk of confusion and conflict if a time comes when a decision about your medical treatment needs to be made.

Sharing your Advance Care Plan with your family, GP and lawyer will also offer some reassurance to health practitioners that it was validly made, and reduce the risk it will be challenged. Further, it will facilitate access to your Advance Care Plan if it is needed.

Anyone with whom you share your Advance Care Plan will be able to access it at any time by logging onto the secure link which is emailed to them.

You should review your Advance Care Plan as regularly as possible, and amend or revoke it if necessary.

The Advance Care Plan on our system, once completed, will be deemed to reflect your current wishes. Sometimes your circumstances, values or beliefs change, or there might be advances in treatment that impact your decision/s. If this happens, it is important you immediately review your Advance Care Plan and verify, amend or revoke it.

We will send you a reminder every 12 months (at the time your subscription is renewed) to review and update your Advance Care Plan, preferably with the assistance of your GP.

If your Advance Care Plan is more than 12 months old and has not been reviewed, or if circumstances have significantly changed since the last review, there is a risk that:

Someone will comply with your Advance Care Plan when your wishes have changed; or
Someone will challenge your Advance Care Plan on the basis that circumstances have changed.

Our organisation is based in Australia.

Our team is available at info@touchstonelifecare.com to answer any of your concerns or issues. We answer promptly and are happy to hear from you with any questions.

It only costs a one-off fee of $149 to use our guided questionnaire to help identify your preferences and create, and share your plan.

Every year thereafter you will only be charged $10 per year to keep the plan online, with unlimited changes, shares and 24/7 access via on-line and QR codes.

You also have the option of purchasing a Lifetime Plan for $350 which is a one-time payment with no yearly costs.  See Pricing for more information on inclusions.

Touchstone Life Care complies with Australian Privacy laws regarding data security and follows best practice data security protocols.

Individual user records are separated using access control lists, ensuring no user data is exposed to any other user. The final public connection to and from the server will feature AES 256 bit encryption.

Our servers are located in an extremely secure, PCI DSS approved data centre in Sydney, with access strictly limited to secure personnel only.

If you do not want to pay the $10 annual fee to keep your plan live and online, you are able to download and print a copy of your plan.

By law, we have to keep a copy of your plan on our system for 7 years should you want to access it, or if you ever change your mind and want to be able to have your plan made digital again.

Yes we do. To read our Privacy Policy simply click here.

Please read our Terms of Use carefully. They can be accessed here.