Whanganui Hospital 'conversations day' to address health and decision-making in old age

For the Whanganui District Health Board, Wednesday is Conversations That Count day and that means talking about health and important decisions for those in old age.

Advanced Care Planning (ACP) will be under discussion (with the help of a morning tea), a topic that the health board and Whanganui Regional Health Network have been promoting since 2011.

The idea is to encourage people to open up and have conversations that aren't easy.
ACP practitioners from the community, Whanganui Hospital clinicians, GP practices, rural health centres, aged residential care units, Whanganui prison, Hospice Whanganui and churches have all been invited.

The health board's Jennie Fowler said no matter a person's age or state of health, it was never too early to start talking about the care they would like if they could not make decisions for themselves.

"Everyone should start thinking and talking about their future care planning before becoming unwell," she said. "It's widely recognised that planning ahead helps us avoid hasty and emotional decisions having to be made when we're sick, elderly, injured in accidents, or we're family members placed in a situation where we're having to make decisions based on what we think our loved one would want them to do."

Ms Fowler said it was also an important conversation to have with a lawyer when writing a will and enduring power of attorney. "It can reduce their emotional distress quite considerably."

Once an ACP has been completed people are advised to return it to their GP who will forward it to Whanganui Hospital's records department where an alert is set up to let hospital staff know that a person admitted to hospital has an ACP in place.

"Clinicians will always try and make the best decisions for patients and their families in all circumstances, but if they are pre-informed of patients' wishes, unnecessary interventions can be avoided and the process of dying, can be as natural as it is to be born," Ms Fowler said.