Best Advance Care Planning for Remote and Regional Western Australia

If you live in the Wheatbelt, Goldfields-Esperance, the Kimberley, the Pilbara, or any other part of Western Australia that's hours from a Perth solicitor's office, the best advance care planning approach is a structured self-completion kit combined with local witnesses, including one authorized witness. A downloadable kit arrives instantly, can be completed anywhere with an internet connection, and produces documents with the same legal standing as anything prepared in a St Georges Terrace law firm.

The key constraint for regional WA families isn't legal knowledge — it's access: access to authorized witnesses, access to GP consultation for clinically specific directives, and access to digital distribution so that an advance health directive completed in Kalgoorlie is visible to the emergency registrar in Perth.

Why Regional WA Has Unique Challenges

Advance care planning in metropolitan Perth is straightforward. You book an elder law solicitor, attend one or two appointments, walk out with signed documents. Regional WA doesn't work that way:

• Specialist elder law availability is limited in many regional centres. Generalist firms in larger towns (Geraldton, Bunbury, Albany) handle property and family law but may not be experienced with the specific witnessing requirements under the Oaths, Affidavits and Statutory Declarations Act 2005
• Travel costs compound. A return trip from Kalgoorlie to Perth for a solicitor appointment can add flights, accommodation, and lost work time before the solicitor's fee
• Authorized witnesses are scarcer. The local retired GP who everyone trusts may not qualify if they are no longer registered in the relevant role. Finding a currently registered doctor, pharmacist, or justice of the peace in a small community takes deliberate effort
• RFDS and emergency transfers mean your directive might need to be read by a clinician who has never met you, in a hospital hundreds of kilometres from where you signed it. If the documents aren't digitally accessible via My Health Record, the emergency team may need to look elsewhere and consult the statutory hierarchy if no relevant AHD is found

Your Options Compared

Solving the Witness Problem in Small Communities

The most common execution failure in regional WA is the witness. Under the Oaths, Affidavits and Statutory Declarations Act 2005, an authorized witness must be currently authorized under the Act, with the listed registration or employment current at the time of signing — and the list has specific exclusions that catch regional families off guard:

Who qualifies (and is likely available in regional WA):

• Currently registered medical practitioners (your town GP, if they're still practising)
• Currently registered pharmacists
• Justices of the peace (check the Department of Justice JP directory for your area)
• Currently registered nurses and midwives
• Police officers
• Local government CEOs, deputy CEOs, or councillors who are authorised under the current witness list

Who does NOT qualify (common regional mistakes):

• Retired doctors, retired pharmacists, retired nurses — registration must be current
• Any person named as an enduring guardian or substitute enduring guardian cannot witness the EPG
• Family members who are beneficiaries of your will (not specifically disqualified for AHDs, but creates a challenge risk)

Practical steps for small communities:

1. Check the WA Justice of the Peace directory online for JPs in your area — confirm availability and any appointment or fee requirements
2. Contact your local shire office and ask whether a local government CEO, deputy CEO, councillor, or another authorised witness is available to witness your AHD
3. If your town has a pharmacy, ask whether its pharmacist is an authorized witness and whether they are available to witness it
4. Schedule the signing when both required witnesses can be physically present together — this is a mandatory requirement, not a convenience preference

Making Your Directive Visible Statewide

For regional families, the distribution problem is more acute than for Perth residents. If you're transferred by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Royal Perth or Fiona Stanley Hospital, the treating team needs to find your advance health directive without calling your Kalgoorlie GP at 3am.

The solution is My Health Record. Once your AHD is uploaded via myGov, treating health professionals can access it if needed through the national system. The process:

1. Scan the signed, witnessed AHD (black and white, 300 dpi, under 20 MB)
2. Log in to myGov → My Health Record → Documents
3. Select Advance Care Planning, then choose Add an Advance Care Planning Document
4. Confirm the upload shows in your record
5. Repeat for your enduring power of guardianship

A planning kit includes step-by-step upload instructions and a distribution log so you can track who has copies — your GP, your enduring guardian, your aged care facility (if applicable), and the digital copy in My Health Record.

Without this digital layer, an AHD completed in the Pilbara may be unavailable to the metropolitan hospital that might be making the treatment decisions.

The Goals of Patient Care Gap

Regional hospitals and health services use clinical tools (Goals of Patient Care forms in hospitals, Residential Goals of Care in aged care) that interact with your legal AHD but aren't the same thing. The GoPC is a medical order written by a hospital doctor for a specific admission — it's what paramedics and emergency clinicians prioritize during an active resuscitation.

For regional families, this creates a practical disconnect: you complete your AHD at home, but the clinical team at the receiving hospital writes a GoPC that may or may not reflect your directive's instructions. The solution is ensuring your Part 4 treatment decisions are written in language that maps directly to GoPC categories — so when the hospital clinician writes the clinical order, your AHD language gives them clear, actionable instructions rather than vague wishes to interpret.

Who This Is For

• Farming families in the Wheatbelt, Great Southern, and Mid West who want legal advance care documents without a Perth trip
• Mine workers and FIFO families in the Pilbara, Goldfields, or Kimberley who need documents accessible statewide via My Health Record
• Retirees in regional centres (Bunbury, Geraldton, Albany, Broome) who want to complete their AHD locally rather than wait for a solicitor appointment
• Indigenous communities where culturally appropriate conversation tools matter alongside legal compliance
• Anyone whose emergency medical care would involve RFDS transfer to a metropolitan hospital

Who This Is NOT For

• Families with complex legal disputes that require face-to-face solicitor involvement regardless of location
• Situations where capacity is already in question and a formal assessment is needed before documents can be signed — this requires a medical practitioner, which a kit can't replace
• People in Perth or large regional centres with easy access to specialist elder law firms and no travel barriers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a justice of the peace witness an advance health directive in WA?

Yes. Justices of the peace are authorized witnesses under the Oaths, Affidavits and Statutory Declarations Act 2005. Check the Department of Justice JP directory for JPs in your area and confirm availability and any appointment requirements.

What if there's no authorized witness in my community?

This is rare but possible in very remote areas. Options: contact the nearest shire office and ask whether a local government CEO, deputy CEO, councillor, or another authorised witness is available; ask the visiting RFDS doctor or nurse on their next round if they are authorised; or schedule a trip to the nearest town with a pharmacy and ask whether its pharmacist is an authorised witness. A planning kit's authorized witness directory helps you identify every category of qualifying witness so you know who to ask.

Will a hospital in Perth accept an AHD I completed in Kalgoorlie?

Absolutely — location of execution is irrelevant to legal validity. What matters is that the form is correctly completed and properly witnessed. Uploading to My Health Record helps treating clinicians access the document if needed, regardless of where you are or where you signed it.

Is a video call with a Perth solicitor an alternative?

A solicitor can advise you via video, but witnessing still requires physical presence — the witnesses must be in the same room as the person signing. You can get advice remotely and then complete the signing locally with the required witnesses, including one authorized witness, which is essentially what a planning kit enables you to do without the solicitor's fee.

How do I make sure the Royal Flying Doctor Service knows about my AHD?

RFDS clinicians may be able to access My Health Record during patient transfers, but you should not rely on that alone. Upload your directive to My Health Record and keep a wallet card indicating that it exists and providing your enduring guardian's contact details so clinicians know to look for it.

The Western Australia Advance Directive & Living Will Kit was designed with regional WA families in mind. It includes the authorized witness directory, My Health Record upload checklist, Goals of Patient Care alignment guide, wallet card, and the complete AHD + EPG completion system — everything you need to complete legally valid advance care documents without leaving your community.

See more Western Australia guides →