Due to aging population and an increasing number of patients with terminal illness, palliative and end-of-life care has lately become an important topic of concern in Hong Kong recently.  In view of the concern over respect to patient self-determination and improvement of their quality of life at the terminal stage, the government will implement the legislative proposal of advance directives and dying in place in this year. To equip the sector with knowledge of the related topics and its impacts on palliative and end-of-life care service development, the Council publishes “Newsletter on Palliative and End-of-Life Care Service”.

The second issue (I) of the newsletter is “Advance Care Planning” (only Chinese version) is hereby issued to introduce how governments and experts from various countries and places including Australia, the United States, Northern Ireland, Hong Kong etc., define advance care planning.  It also provides an overview of the evolution and development of advance care planning over the years.

If you have any enquiries or comments on this publication, please contact Ms. Kelly Chong, Programme Executive (Tel: 28642445; email: [email protected]) or Mr. Norman Kwan, Officer (Tel: 28642435; email: [email protected]). Thank you!