Tasmanians planning for end-of-life care are now better supported following the passage of the Guardianship and Administration Amendment (Advance Care Directives) Bill 2021 through Parliament.
This important legislation will give greater legal certainty to the status of Advance Care Directions (ACD) and will better enable Tasmanians to make decisions about future medical treatment and/or health care options.
The legislation establishes a robust and contemporary framework for ACDs in Tasmania, which provides strong protections in relation to decision-making capacity and witness requirements.
Our Government recognises how important ACDs are as a health care tool for people across all stages of life, particularly in their end-of-life health care, and with the Bill now passed, we will now work to implement the changes and improvements to the use of ACDs for the benefit of all Tasmanians.
This will include health industry, stakeholder and public education to ensure there is high level awareness of the framework within our community.