Page 524 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 17 February 2016
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our society to provide dignity to those who deserve it at a time when they need it the most.
Even having a debate of this nature would have been taboo once upon a time or quashed as being fringe and ghoulish, as some sort of sacrilege. Thankfully, we have evolved to a point, as I touched on earlier, where it is becoming more accepted to have these conversations, for people to canvass these issues in a way that is mature. It is not always easy but it is important that we have these conversations.
Individuals should have a right to have input into the care and services we receive at the end of our lives, and we need to make sure that our legislative and legal frameworks are progressing to reflect that increasing community willingness to have these conversations. It is particularly pertinent, in the case of reduced capacity that may result from certain terminal illnesses or the treatments provided for some conditions, that people are making these plans while they are still considered to be able to.
I am certainly thankful that this government of which I am a part has been taking a long, hard look at advance care directives in a range of areas. Significant improvements have been made in this area due to the advance care directive initiatives that were included in the parliamentary agreement. The respecting patient choices program to help people make advance care plans has been around since 2006. However, not many people knew about it. When I was the Minister for Ageing in 2014 I was pleased to be able to launch an ACT government funded campaign in partnership with Medicare Local to inform the ACT community about the importance of advance care planning.
Developing an advance care plan will ensure that an individual can make decisions regarding their future health care while they still have the capacity to do so and allows them to communicate those wishes to family, friends and healthcare professionals. Advance care planning ensures that all of us as adults, no matter what our stage in life, make decisions regarding our future health care while we still have the capacity to do so. People in the ACT should be aware that their spouse or next of kin has no legal entitlement to make formal substitute decisions on their behalf in circumstances where they cannot make their own decisions unless there is an enduring power of attorney in place. Most people do not have that; so those restrictions would apply to most people in our community.
That is why having conversations about values and wishes relating to future health care are crucial at all stages in our adult lives. Anyone over the age of 18 years can complete an advance care plan, and I would encourage people to look at that closely and consider taking up that option. The ACT government-funded respecting patient choices program also provides information and advance care plan documents. Residents can also complete their advance care plans free of charge with a trained respecting patient choices facilitator.
I would like to touch briefly on palliative care. Ms Porter mentioned this in her motion, in paragraphs(1)(d) and (2)(a), noting that there are excellent services available in the ACT and calling on the government to continue to provide for greater
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