Page 4 - Guide-to-Advance-Statements

An Advance Statement should not be used to suggest to doctors caring for you that inappropriate things
should happen. For example if you were to state you did not want basic care, or you wished treatments
known not to work, or you wished your life to be ended – these parts of any statement would be ignored.

4. COMMUNICATION

It is no use completing an Advance Statement, telling no one of its existence and hiding it in a drawer
somewhere. The whole point of the document is to inform others of the person’s wishes – therefore wide
communication of the document to the relevant people is recommended. When someone makes a
statement they should copy it to their General Practitioner, their Hospital Consultant (if any), their Welfare
Attorney (if any) and their nearest relative and main carer, as well as any Mental Health Officer or other
professionals involved. The more people involved in care and treatment who know the patient’s wishes the
better.

5. REVIEW AND REVOCATION

Illnesses and treatments are not static issues. Illness can get worse or better and treatments can change and
develop. It is therefore sensible to consider an Advance Statement as a “live document“ which should be
subject to regular review and updating to take account of current circumstances. When updating, a new
statement should be completed and any old statement should be revoked in writing. Again the revocation
document must be witnessed by one of the same group of professionals as mentioned previously, who must
again certify that the person revoking has the capacity to revoke.

6. NAMED PERSONS AND WELFARE ATTORNEYS

s mentioned above, the Act gives people the right to nominate a Named Person. This person has the right to
be consulted over medical treatments and also has the right to call for review of decisions at a Mental
Health Tribunal. Named Persons’ rights are however limited to compulsory treatments. If someone is
receiving treatment voluntarily the Named Person has no rights. They also have substantially fewer powers
than Welfare Attorneys. In our view all adults should appoint a Welfare Attorney anyway to ensure
someone can act for them if they become incapacitated, whether by reason of mental disorder or otherwise.
Incapacity can arise through a sudden illness or an accident as well as anticipated illness. Obviously it is
particularly important for anyone suffering from a mental illness which could be progressive to appoint a
Welfare Attorney. Ideally the Welfare Attorney will also be the Named Person in the Advance Statement or

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