Advance care planning should be offered as part of routine clinical practice to patients with long term conditions and those receiving care at the end of life, says guidance from the Royal College of Physicians and eight other professional and patients’ groups.

Efforts to promote greater choice and autonomy for patients are at the core of current healthcare policy but can be difficult to achieve if individuals lose the capacity to make decisions about treatment, the guidance points out.

A review of the literature shows that 60% to 90% of people support advance care planning, although only 8% of people in England and Wales have completed any form …