My Health Record and Your Advance Directive in the NT

Why My Health Record Matters for Your APP

You can create a legally perfect Advance Personal Plan, have it witnessed by a JP, and register it with the Public Guardian and Trustee — and it still might not be available when you need it most. If you collapse at Palmerston Regional Hospital and the emergency team has never seen you before, they need to find your documented wishes in minutes, not days.

My Health Record is the federal digital health record system. Most Australians have one (unless they opted out during 2018–2019). It is accessible to treating clinicians across Australia, including NT hospital emergency departments. Uploading your APP as a scanned PDF means a treating team with access to your My Health Record can find your documented wishes, treatment refusals, and decision-maker contacts.

How to Upload Your APP

1. Sign in to My Health Record through myGov
2. From the Documents tab, select the Advance Care Planning link
3. Click "Add an Advance Care Planning Document" and use Browse to select the scanned PDF of your signed, witnessed APP
4. Enter the date the document was last updated and the name and contact number of the person who wrote the plan, then select Next
5. Check that the correct document was uploaded with all pages included, then select Save

If you have created two separate APPs using the split-document strategy (one financial, one healthcare), upload only the healthcare/lifestyle plan. Your financial APP contains sensitive property and banking details that do not need to be in your health record.

PGT Registration Is Separate

Uploading to My Health Record does not replace registration with the Public Guardian and Trustee, and vice versa. These are two different systems serving different purposes:

PGT registration creates a central register entry that can help banks, tribunals, and legal practitioners confirm that a plan was registered. It is free. You post the original signed document to the PGT office in Darwin, they scan and register it, stamp the original, and return it within two to four weeks.

My Health Record upload makes the plan accessible to hospital clinical systems. It is the fastest way for an emergency department to find your documented wishes.

Both are recommended. Neither is legally required for the APP to be valid (except Land Titles Office registration, which is mandatory if the APP covers real property).

What Clinicians See

When a clinician accesses your My Health Record, they may be able to see documents you have uploaded, including advance care documents. The advance care planning area gives treating teams a place to find the document.

However, My Health Record is an access tool, not an authority tool. The legal validity of your APP still depends on whether it was properly signed, witnessed, and executed under the Advance Personal Planning Act 2013. A clinician who finds your APP on My Health Record can consider it alongside the clinical record, but if validity is disputed, contact the PGT to check whether a registered plan exists; PGT registration does not itself confirm that the plan is legally valid or endorsed.

The Public Guardian and Trustee's Role

The Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT) is the Northern Territory office that maintains the APP register and provides public guardian and trustee services. It has two relevant functions:

APP Registry. They maintain the voluntary register of Advance Personal Plans. Registration is free, and the registration number creates a reference point for checking a copy against the registered plan; it does not itself confirm the plan's legal validity.

Default decision-maker. Under the Health Care Decision Making Act 2023, the Public Guardian is the decision-maker of last resort. If no one in the statutory hierarchy is available, willing, and able to make a healthcare decision for an incapacitated person, the Public Guardian steps in.

These are backup functions. If you have a current APP with an appointed decision-maker, registered with the PGT and uploaded to My Health Record, the Public Guardian's involvement should never be needed.

Other Distribution Steps

My Health Record and PGT registration are digital and institutional. You also need physical and personal distribution:

• A certified copy to your GP, filed in your medical record
• A copy to the registry of your local hospital (Royal Darwin Hospital, Alice Springs Hospital)
• Copies to each appointed decision-maker
• The original stored securely — with your solicitor, in a home safe, or returned stamped from the PGT
• A wallet card noting that you have an APP and where it is registered

The more access points you create, the less likely it is that your wishes will be unknown during a crisis.

Keeping It Current

If you update or revoke your APP, you must update every copy — including the one on My Health Record. Log in to the MyGov portal, delete the old PDF, and upload the new one. Failing to update My Health Record after a revocation means clinicians may act on an outdated document.

Our Northern Territory Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes a storage and distribution tracker that lists every registration point and prompts you to complete each step, plus a revocation checklist for when it is time to update.

See more Northern Territory guides →