Advance Decision Free Template UK

Legitimate Free Templates Exist — But They Solve Only Part of the Problem

Several reputable organisations offer free ADRT templates for use in England. They are genuine, legally compliant, and properly structured around the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Nobody needs to pay for a blank form.

The question is whether a blank form is what you actually need.

The Main Free Template Sources

Compassion in Dying offers the most widely used free ADRT template in England. Their downloadable form walks you through the basic structure: your personal details, the treatments you want to refuse, the circumstances under which those refusals apply, and the life-at-risk clause for life-sustaining treatment refusals. They also provide guidance notes alongside the template.

My Decisions (run by Compassion in Dying) provides an online tool that generates a personalised ADRT through a guided questionnaire. You answer questions about your preferences, and the tool produces a PDF document formatted as a legal ADRT. This is free and does not require creating an account.

NHS trusts in some areas provide their own advance care planning forms through GP surgeries and hospital trusts. These vary by region and tend to combine ADRT sections with Advance Statement sections (non-binding preference documents) and ReSPECT-style emergency care summaries.

Age UK and the Alzheimer's Society publish downloadable planning guides that include template sections, though their primary focus is educational rather than document generation.

All of these are free and legitimate.

What Free Templates Cover Well

A good free template handles the structural requirements competently:

• Clear identification of the person making the ADRT
• Sections for specifying treatment refusals
• Space for describing the clinical circumstances under which refusals apply
• The statutory life-at-risk declaration
• Signature and witness lines
• Date fields

If you know exactly which treatments you want to refuse, can describe the clinical circumstances in precise medical language, and understand the witnessing requirements, a free template gives you everything you need to create a legally valid ADRT.

Where the Gap Opens

The template gives you the structure. It does not give you the clinical knowledge to fill it in effectively.

The most common failure mode for DIY ADRTs is not an invalid form — it is valid form, vague content. Phrases like "I refuse treatment if I have no quality of life" or "I do not want to be kept alive artificially" are legally meaningless because they are too imprecise for a clinical team to apply with confidence. When a doctor cannot determine whether a refusal applies to the patient's current clinical situation, they default to treating.

The Compassion in Dying template and the My Decisions tool both include some guidance on clinical language, but they necessarily remain general. They cannot provide the condition-specific phrasing that makes an ADRT genuinely enforceable — for example, the precise medical terminology for refusing tube feeding in the context of progressive dementia, or the exact wording needed to refuse antibiotics for pneumonia while still receiving palliative comfort care.

The other gap is integration with the broader planning framework. A free ADRT template does not explain:

• How an ADRT interacts with a Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare (the precedence rules are chronological and frequently misunderstood)
• How to register your ADRT with your GP and ensure it is flagged on your Summary Care Record
• How to communicate your ADRT to family members, especially when family members disagree with your treatment preferences
• How to review and update the document after a diagnosis or change in circumstances

When a Template Is Enough

If you are a healthy adult making a straightforward ADRT — refusing CPR, refusing mechanical ventilation in the event of a terminal condition — a free template from Compassion in Dying or My Decisions, carefully completed with specific clinical language, is likely sufficient. Have your GP review it for clinical accuracy before signing.

When You Need More Than a Template

If your situation involves any of the following, the template is a starting point but probably not the endpoint:

• A progressive cognitive condition where capacity is declining
• Complex family dynamics where relatives may challenge the document
• Multiple interacting documents (ADRT plus one or both types of LPA)
• Treatment refusals that require condition-specific medical terminology
• A need to integrate your ADRT with a care home admission or ongoing hospital treatment

Our England Advance Directive guide provides the clinical phrasing registry, the LPA interaction rules, the GP registration process, and the family conversation framework that free templates do not — alongside a pre-filled drafting worksheet that translates common treatment preferences into the precise language that makes an ADRT enforceable.

See more England guides →