Deciding Right
Having a Plan...
Good health is one of our most prized possessions, so we should make the most of the time we are in good health without worrying about the time when we’re not. Did you know that we all have a right to make decisions about our future care, now?
Deciding Right is the way that Cumbria have decided to tell you about this and make sure that you know that this is your right. With the other hospice services in Cumbria, we have been training health and social care professionals across the county in the law and the guidelines that underpin these rights so that they are ready to help us take control of our futures.
None of us find it particularly easy to think about ourselves or someone we love becoming really ill. But, by talking and having support to think through our options and choices, if something happens we have a plan to fall back on.
Not everyone will want to go forward and make written plans, but we all need to know that we can at any time, while we have capacity. There are various options, and people can do what’s right for them whether that be some or all of it. When something happens to threaten our health, we can very quickly feel out of control and swept along. Being able to take back some of the control, both now and in the future, can have an enormous effect on how you feel in the middle of everything.
Most of us understand that it is really important to have an up to date and valid Will and make plans for what happens to us after we've died. But not many consider how much more important it is to think about what happens to us while we’re still here! Here you’ll find more about the options, and we hope that this will be a starting point for you beginning to think about your future care and your right to make plans if you want to.
Resources:
- Implementing Deciding Right in Cumbria (July 2014)
- To download this document, click the link (which will take you to issuu.com) then click Share below the document. Then click Download.