What is a Health and Welfare Power of Attorney?

Planning for the future is essential, especially when it comes to your health, care, and personal wellbeing. A Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney (Health and Welfare LPA) is a key legal document in the UK that ensures your voice is still heard, even if you are unable to make decisions yourself.

Health and Welfare LPA allows appointed, trusted individuals to make decisions about your care and treatment if you become unable to do so yourself. This document only gives those nominated by you the power over your health and welfare and it only comes into effect when you lose mental capacity.

What decisions do Health and Welfare Power of Attorneys cover?

This document covers any a wide range of decisions related to your health and welfare. These include:

• Your daily routine (for example, eating, washing, and dressing)
• Consenting or rejecting medical treatment and procedures
• Life sustaining treatment (if chosen)
• Choosing where you live

By setting out your preferences in advance, a Health and Welfare LPA ensures decisions are made in line with your personal wishes and values.

Why is it important to have a Health and Welfare LPA?

Having a Health and Welfare LPA ensures that your wishes are respected, mitigating risk of disagreement or conflict between your loved ones when you are unable to care for yourself. This is incredibly important as it reduces the weight on their shoulders.

This can significantly reduce stress and emotional pressure on family members during difficult times.

On top of benefitting those around you, it ensures that you have peace of mind as you know that someone you trust will always act in your best interests.

If you do not have a Health and Welfare LPA, these pivotal decisions will be made by a medical professional. This can lead to decisions that don’t reflect what you wanted whilst you had capacity. Your family might also have to apply for a court ordered health and welfare deputyship if they wanted to make these decisions instead of your doctors or other professionals. This is an incredibly difficult process which often takes several months as well as incurring an application fee. Most importantly, majority of the applications for a health and welfare deputyship are not approved by the court.

Putting a Health and Welfare LPA in place gives you control, clarity, and reassurance that your future care is handled exactly as you intend.

When should you set up a Health and Welfare LPA?

Health and Welfare LPA can be set up, or changed, at any time provided you still have mental capacity, but it is recommended that you do it as soon as possible. You can create them alongside your Wills and Property and Financial LPA.

Acting early ensures your wishes are legally recorded.

Who should you appoint as your attorney?

An attorney should always be someone that you trust that understands your wishes and values, as they are going to be making vital decisions about your health and welfare.

You can appoint multiple attorneys, and you can decide whether they make decisions only together, or on their own or together.

It is important to choose individuals who are reliable, willing to act on your behalf, and capable of making informed but often difficult decisions under pressure.

Get expert advice on setting up a Health and Welfare LPA

Setting up a Health and Welfare LPA is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your future wellbeing and ensure your wishes are respected.

Our experienced team is here to guide you through the process, making it simple, clear, and tailored to your individual circumstances. Our experts take their time to get to know your wishes and beliefs to ensure the Health & Welfare LPA is truly bespoke to your needs.

Contact our team today to discuss your Health and Welfare LPA and take control of your future care.