Anticipatory care plans and end of life care

2) What is an Anticipatory Care Plan?

A female patient in a hospital bed holding hands with the hospital chaplain

© Crown copyright 2099

The process of telling others about your wishes is known as anticipatory care planning. Making a record of your personal care choices is the Anticipatory Care Plan.

We all grow older. We will all die sometime. Few of us are comfortable discussing dying and death.
Anticipatory Care Plans can help. They are flexible and provide a supportive and palliative care approach to managing diseases that do not have a cure. They can be used for longer periods of time when it is difficult to predict how a disease will progress.

Anticipatory care decisions are about:

  • The kind of care you would want to have.
  • Where you would ideally like this care to be given.
  • Who would you want to give this information to?

Each area of Scotland may have different facilities available.

You can change your mind and wishes, about what you want, at any time.

For more information please see a sample anticipatory care plan:

Anticipatory care plans are not the same as the Liverpool care pathway which has now been phased out.

End of life care usually refers to the last days. Palliative care (sometimes called terminal care) can be a longer period of time but it is difficult to predict how long a period of palliative care will last. For more information see Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care: Palliative care services by NHS Board.