This records your wishes about what matters to you in terms of your future decisions and choices.

This discusses the benefits of different treatment options and if a treatment option may not be suitable in the future.

Contains details of the care and treatment you would prefer, and wish to refuse, in an emergency.

This involves a discussion about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and your views on attempting CPR if your heart and breathing stops. If you do not want cardiopulmonary resuscitation to be attempted if your heart and breathing stops a DNACPR form recommending this can be included in your advance care plan.

This provides information on any treatment you may not want and in what situation.

This is a legal term. If a person has mental capacity, it means that they can understand the decision that they are making. If it is decided that someone does not have mental capacity, then other people (usually a health care professional along with the people close to the person) make decisions for them in their ‘best interests’.

This happens when a choice is made for someone who is not able to make decisions for themselves because they do not have mental capacity. Any decision should be taken with the person’s best interests in mind.

This is a legal document where a person names someone to make decisions for them if they become too unwell.

Having an advance care plan in place ensures the person acting as a power of attorney will be aware of your wishes and will act in your best interests’. See the resource section for tips to start a power of attorney conversation.

Digital legacy refers to the online information that is available about a person after they have died, for example: their social media accounts. A conversation about a person’s wishes re: their digital legacy may be a useful and ‘non-threatening’ approach to starting the conversation.