Advance care planning: What are the issues?

Advance care planning (ACP) should include discussion with the patient (while they still have capacity) as to their wishes for future healthcare provision. Originating from the United States and sometimes previously referred to as a ‘living will’, advanced care planning has been in evidence in the United Kingdom (UK) since the mid–1980s.

Current guidelines in the UK recommend that patients with a life-limiting illness should be offered ACP but all too frequently there seem to be obstacles preventing the realisation of these plans. Knowledge about ACP is becoming more important for ambulance crews as they increasingly encounter patients with individual plans in place.

This qualitative study set out to explore a wide range of professionals' (both clinical and non-clinical) experiences and opinions about ACP in the clinical areas of dementia and palliative care.

Undertaken in the North East of England between September 2009 and January 2011, purposive sampling was used to recruit participants from palliative care, dementia care, social services, legal professions, the voluntary sector, primary care and the ambulance service.