Where to Store Your Advance Directive in Scotland and How to Tell Your GP

You've drafted your advance directive, signed it with a witness, and included the right clinical wording. Now what? If the only copy sits in a filing cabinet at home, it's functionally invisible to the people who need it most — the paramedics, A&E doctors, and NHS 24 staff who make split-second decisions when you can't speak for yourself.

Getting the directive into the right hands and onto the right systems is the step that turns a legal document into a clinical tool.

The GP Appointment: The Single Most Important Step

In NHS Scotland, emergency clinicians don't ask families to produce documents from home. They check the electronic Key Information Summary (KIS) — a centrally accessible database linked to the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) that paramedics, out-of-hours GPs, NHS 24, and hospital staff can read in real time.

Only your GP practice can add information to your KIS. You cannot upload documents yourself, and hospitals can't add them either.

What to bring: The signed, witnessed original of your advance directive. If you've also set up a welfare power of attorney, bring the OPG registration confirmation.

What to ask for: Three things. First, ask the GP to scan the full document into your electronic patient record. Second, ask them to attach a high-priority clinical alert to your file — this is the flag that makes the directive visible immediately when any clinician opens your record. Third, ask them to upload a summary of your key treatment refusals and your welfare attorney's contact details to your KIS.

Some GP practices will do this during a standard appointment. Others may want to schedule a dedicated anticipatory care planning conversation, which gives the GP time to discuss the clinical implications of your refusals and potentially complete a ReSPECT form at the same time.

Who Else Needs a Copy

Your GP holds the clinically active version, but you need redundancy. A single-point-of-failure storage strategy is a poor fit for a document that matters most during chaotic, high-stress situations.

Your welfare attorney — if you've appointed one — needs a physical or digital copy. Their role is to advocate for your recorded wishes at the bedside, and they can't do that without access to the directive. If the attorney lives far away, a scanned PDF stored in a shared cloud folder (with appropriate security) gives them instant access.

Hospital consultants — if you're under the ongoing care of a specialist (oncology, neurology, renal), give them a copy directly. Hospital systems don't always sync seamlessly with GP records, and a consultant who knows your wishes can raise them during a ward round without waiting for someone to check your KIS.

Close family members — not because they have legal authority over your treatment decisions, but because they may be the first people a clinical team contacts. A family member who knows the directive exists and can point the medical team to it accelerates the process.

Where to Keep the Original

The signed original should stay in a secure, accessible location at home — not in a bank safe deposit box (inaccessible out of hours) and not in a solicitor's file (requires office-hours contact). A fireproof home safe or a clearly labelled folder in a known location works well.

Tell at least two trusted people where the original is stored. If you carry a wallet card or medical alert indicating that an advance directive exists and naming your welfare attorney, emergency responders can follow that trail to the right records.

The Storage Tracker

A simple tracker prevents the document from becoming clinically invisible:

• Original: Secure home location — noted and shared with at least two people
• GP practice: Scanned, alert attached, KIS updated — confirm the date this was done
• Welfare attorney: Copy delivered — record the date and method
• Hospital consultant: Copy filed — note the department and consultant name
• Close family: Informed of the directive's existence and storage location

Review this tracker alongside the directive itself every two to three years, or after any change of GP, welfare attorney, or hospital consultant.

Our Scotland Advance Directive toolkit includes a storage and sharing tracker, a pre-written GP request letter, and step-by-step instructions for ensuring your KIS is properly updated.

See more Scotland guides →