Introduction of an Advance Care Planning Clinic in a Regional Care Coordination Service

Advance Care Planning is an increasingly important consideration in health care service provision. Barriers to Advance Care Planning including lower prioritization than clinical care, and the complex logistics of completing the documentation have been identified in the literature and clinical practice. The Chronic Care Program within Canberra Hospital and Health Services introduced mobile and outpatient Advance Care Planning Clinics for care coordinated patients with chronic diseases, to address some of these barriers and facilitate end-of-life care discussion amongst this patient group. The implementation of the clinics was evaluated, looking at the practicality of running these clinics within existing resources and patient acceptability. The number of Statement of Choices completed was used as a marker of whether the clinics led to an increase in Advance Care Planning amongst this patient group. The introduction of the clinics received positive feedback from patients and was able to beimplemented without requiring additional external resources. Following introduction of the Advance Care Planning clinics, an increase in the proportion of patients with a completed a Statement of Choices was seen.