Anticipatory & advance care planning (ACP)

Anticipatory care planning (as it is called in Scotland) and advance care planning (as it is called in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) mean that health and care practitioners work with people and their carers to ensure that the right thing is done at the right time by the right person. ACP enables the person to make informed choices about the type of care they want to receive. It allows them to highlight what’s important to them and to understand how they can help themselves.

ACP is a voluntary process of discussion, planning and review among an individual, those close to them and their care provider. To have an ACP discussion a person must have capacity.

The purpose of the discussion is to help an individual plan ahead for a time when their health may change, and they lose capacity to make their own decisions or the ability to communicate their wishes to others. ACP differs from more general care planning because it is about making clear a person's wishes in advance of an anticipated deterioration in their condition.

A person may choose to plan ahead by:

• Making an Advance Statement of their preferences and wishes for their future care. This can include how and where they want to be cared for.
• Recording a person’s preferences for their future care by using an Anticipatory Care Plan document (Scotland).
• Recording a person’s preferences for their future care using an Advance Care Plan document (England, Northern Ireland & Wales).
• Creating a Power of Attorney. This is when a person appoints someone to make decisions on their behalf. These decisions may be about their property or finances or their health and welfare. Powers of Attorney vary across the four nations.
• Making an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment (England, Wales & Northern Ireland) or an Advance Directive (Scotland). This is when a person recordsa decision about treatments they don’t want to have or treatments they would want stopped.
• In Northern Ireland a person can only give someone power to make decisions about their property or finances. In England & Wales and Scotland a person can give someone power to make decisions about their property and finances and their health and welfare.

Anticipatory Care Planning - Healthcare Improvement Scotland. This resource is relevant to Scotland.

Advance Care Planning - A quick guide for registered managers of care homes and home care services. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. This resource is relevant to England, Northern Ireland & Wales.

Advance Care Planning. Macmillan Cancer Support.This resource is relevant to England, Northern Ireland & Wales.

Advance Care Planning. The Palliative Hub. This resource is relevant to Northern Ireland.

Advance Care Plan. This resource is relevant to England and Wales.

Dying Matters – help your patients plan

ReSPECT for Patients and Carers. Resuscitation Council UK

Dying Matters - The Resuscitation Conversation

Some elements of this section are summarised and adapted from Macmillan Foundations in Palliative Care (FIPC) materials 2020, published by Macmillan Cancer Support, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7UQ, United Kingdom. © Copyright Macmillan Cancer Support 2020, produced by the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI). Macmillan Cancer Support accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the content, which is based on UK practice and guidelines at the date of UK publication; nor for the context in which the content is published; nor for any adaptations made for local use. The content as published in this app/website is solely the responsibility of the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, Inovo Building, 121 George St, Glasgow G1 1RD.