Urgent Coronavirus information

The British Medical Association, CQC and Royal College of GPs advise you to plan and take control should you get Coronavirus infection. This website gives you information and allows you create your own personalised care plan.

Make a Living Will - quick route

An Advance Decision is as important as a will. Planning how you wish to be treated if you become seriously ill is helpful to those who will care for you, especially if you lose the ability to make your own decisions. We recommend that you first browse the website so that you can think through the issues it raises. We strongly advise you to discuss these issues with your GP. You should also share this process with your family and / or those close to you so that no one gets a surprise at the existence of your Advance Decision to refuse treatment.

If you have any difficulty going through any part of the website, please contact [email protected] where we will try and respond as quickly as possible.
 

Create an Advance Statement

An Advance Statement allows you to express your preferences, wishes, beliefs and values. It will inform those caring for you of your likes and dislikes, so that decisions are made in your best interests.
 

Create an Advance Decision

An Advance Decision describes the specific illnesses or conditions that might arise in the future and allows you to say what treatment or treatments you wish to refuse under each circumstance. It is a legally binding document that will ensure that your wishes will be followed by those caring for you.

In the absence of an Advance Decision, healthcare professionals will make treatment decisions on your behalf. Therefore, an Advance Decision is particularly important should you develop severe dementia or if you fall into a coma or lose the ability to communicate due to a stroke, head injury or for any other reason.
 

Register a user account

You will need to register with your name and email address in order to create and save a Living Will. You can complete an Advance Decision to refuse treatments and an Advance Statement of your preferences and wishes in an hour or two. You may wish to do this in stages, saving your choices as you go and returning later after reflecting on them, or in one go.

Once your documents are complete, you simply download and print them and get your signature witnessed. Through your account, you will be able to access your completed documents for an unlimited period. It will also allow us to remind you to re-confirm your decisions every 3 - 5 years, which is not essential but suggested.

Costs of making a Living Will

Creation of a living will is free. MLW is a not-for-profit charity. We have a very small staff who work pro-bono. However, we do have to maintain the website and pay for a server, which costs about £6000 a year. We do not receive funding from any organisation and are dependent on individual donations to sustain and keep the website up-to-date.

So, if you wish to make a small donation to MLW we would be delighted. You can do this at any time as well as once you have completed your documents. Alternatively, you can go to a solicitor who will draw up a living will for you, but this is likely to cost several hundred pounds.