This conference will allow us to consider how ACP has been implemented, as well as the current outcomes and impact it has had so far. By reflecting on current practices, we will also be able to review where we may need to look more closely at its practice and the impact on equitable treatment.

We have an exciting inter-disciplinary line up to really put a spotlight on this area in different ways. Speakers will include people from the London Ambulance Service, Community Engagement workers, Hospice Nurses, social scientists including researchers with Learning Disabilities, and people who will advocate for change sharing their lived experience.

We will engage with some of the debates or considerations around the implementation of ACP and who may engage in it, and what happens when they do.

The conference aims to provide further understanding of some of the underlying assumptions around ACP and which concepts they are rooted in (improving experience through choice, personalised care), and also contextualise ACP by reviewing how people might understand or resist it.

Importantly, we will consider whether planning for the future is a shared goal and if so what roles other stakeholders in wider society have. We’ll ask how the health system might improve its response and where ACP might sit in a continuum of actions, understanding, timing, and more so that all stakeholders benefit. Our intention is to create an event in which there is wide participation on the part of all attending to negotiate and arrive at some key recommendations to amend and improve the current process.