Planning ahead

Advance care planning is a broad term for a series of conversations about the future. These conversations can lead to action points needing to be completed.

Future treatment and care

At Dorothy House, we want to support our patients and our health and social care colleagues in the community to have these sometimes difficult conversations.

By having these discussions early you can make informed decisions about future treatment and care, express personal wishes and get your admin in order. You will be empowered to look after yourself and have a say right until you are no longer able to do so. This is immensely reassuring to those caring for you.

Resources for patients, families and professionals

In the information below we have included resources for patients, families and professionals. There are some videos, downloads and links to other sites that might be helpful.

If you cannot find something in specific, please do contact us and we will do our best to find what you are looking for.

Peace of Mind Planner

Our lives are scattered with paperwork and digital records. Do you have a plan for how to hand over life admin to a loved one after death? Do you have important wishes you’d like observed? Have you discussed what kind of funeral you would like?

We’ve created a new, FREE booklet to help you and your loved ones have important conversations and find peace of mind.

If you are unable to download the booklet or do not have access to a printer, please feel free to contact us on 01225-721480 or email
Sarah.Dodd@dorothyhouse-hospice.org.uk. We will be able to send you a physical copy by post.

Download here

End of life account closure

Life Ledger is an end of life planning and account closure service. It is a simple tool to keep track of the accounts you have to help your loved ones navigate the administration after you have died. Life Ledger’s easy to use service means you can inform UK companies linked to the deceased from a single point.  They work with over 1,000 companies such as banks, building societies, energy companies, mobile and telephone companies.

Create an account and enter some basic information about you and your loved ones, choose the companies you wish to inform and add account details, press send and they will take care of the rest!

The Register a Life portal is only £1 a month – that is £12 a year! This contribution helps Life Ledger continue to offer free services to those in end of life care. If you are not in end of life care but would still like to use this service, then 50% of your annual subscription fee is donated to Dorothy House.

Register

ReSPECT form

When you are clear about what you want to happen in an emergency, you are ready have a conversation and to fill out the ReSPECT plan.

A ReSPECT plan is filled out by you and a healthcare worker together. The plan asks about what is important to you and the kinds of care and treatments you would want to have in an emergency. You can access and download our ReSPECT form here

Free wills

We’ve partnered with Beyond, the UK’s leading online will specialist, to offer you a safe and easy tool for creating a free online will. You can create your FREE will today using our discount code ‘Dorothy100’. Visit our ‘free wills’ page here.

Practical care toolkit

The following NHS resource outlines what you can do to practically care for someone who is in their last days and hours of life, including communication, pain, going to the toilet, washing, eating and symptom management. You can download the toolkit here.

Advance Care Planning

Our Advance Care Planning page hosts a variety of resources for Healthcare Professionals. You can access our Advance Care Planning page here.