Advance care planning workshops rolling out across South Western Sydney

New workshops focusing on the importance of planning for your future healthcare needs will be held across South Western Sydney.

South Western Sydney PHN (SWSPHN) is commissioning experienced provider, Palliative Aged Care Consultancy Service (PACCS), to deliver the workshops. Funding is provided under the Australian Government’s PHN Program.

The advance care planning workshops will be run by specially trained staff who will discuss with individuals why and how to plan for their future healthcare needs, help them complete an advance care plan and/or ensure the more formal advance care directive is completed and signed.

According to a 2025 national Advance Care Planning Australia study, 82 per cent of people agree advance care planning can help others make the right decisions for you.

However, only one in three Australians have taken steps to plan for their future healthcare and only 6 per cent of Australians have completed an advance care directive.

In South Western Sydney, the numbers are even lower with far fewer residents recording plans for their future healthcare needs than the NSW average.

About 3.5 per cent of South Western Sydney residents have completed an advance care directive compared with a state average of 14.9 per cent, and 13.8 per cent have completed an advance care plan compared with the state average of 25.1 per cent.

The advance care planning workshops aim to improve access to the support needed to ensure more people consider and discuss their wishes for their future healthcare needs with their family.

SWSPHN Acting Chief Executive Officer, Amy Prince, said advance care planning was good for individuals – ensuring they received the healthcare they wanted – and to ease the burden for families who were otherwise faced with worry and disagreements about decisions around the care of their loved one.

“There are many misconceptions about advance care planning in our region. People believe it’s just about dying or only for older people. They think it's complex and morbid to think about,” she said.

“PACCs understands the complex nature of advance care planning in our region, and we look forward to working with them to get people talking about death and dying and to improve end-of-life care for our community.”

Workshops will be held at community sites across the region.

Visit SWSPHN’s Website to find out more about advance care planning.