Don’t let a conversation about dying be the elephant in the room.
My Care Choices Register
The My Care Choices Register is for those people in North Essex who are living with incurable illness, dementia or frailty and who wish to record their priorities for future care.
We all make plans and choices throughout our life but have you considered advance care planning?
Have you thought about how you would like to be cared for should you become more unwell?
Talk to your loved ones about your priorities for your future health care, then ask your GP to add you to the My Care Choices Register.
Download the My Care Choices Record to start the conversation.
Please click the poster thumbnail image to download an A4 copy of our poster, then print and display.
We hope it will encourage people to have a conversation about their wishes when it comes to dying and end-of-life choices.
…it was simple to understand and instead of having to talk about her options it would be easier this way because she can write her choices down
The My Care Choices Register (MCCR) History
The My Care Choices Register (MCCR) first came into existence in 2013 in response to a 2008 end of life government care strategy. Research showed that people don’t want to spend their last year or their last days in hospital but this was often the case due to poor co-ordination of care or crisis driven care.
Having the conversation and planning for end of life care has shown to be transformative for those involved. It can be an upsetting conversation to have but people are glad to have had it and feedback has shown that for those with an end of life care plan, the care they receive is better.
The MCCR was GP led and was hosted by St Helena. GPs identified those people who would benefit from inclusion on the register. In the beginning, the focus was on those people with an incurable illness but in 2016 the register was opened up to include those people living with dementia or frailty* and more recently has been widened again to include elderly people who live in a care home.
We are always looking to improve the register and future developments include opening up the register for more healthcare professionals to view as well as allowing the person themselves to access their own record.
* Frailty – someone in frail health who is suffering from a range of difficult conditions.
