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 issue 7 of the newsletter “Advance Care Planning in Taiwan” (only Chinese version) is hereby issued to introduce the Advance Care Planning in Taiwan. By understanding the development of Advance Care Planning, the roles of different stakeholders, the effectiveness of the policy, as well as the obstacles and challenges faced, etc., some key observations will be highlighted.