LP1H explained
Guidance from Estate Advisory Group
LP1H mirrors the financial form with one profound difference: section 5, where you decide who can consent to or refuse life-sustaining treatment.
What it covers
- Where you live, including a move into a care home.
- Day-to-day care: diet, routine, dress, social contact.
- Medical treatment and consent, within the limits you set.
- Complaints about your care, and access to your medical records.
It can only be used once you cannot make the decision yourself. There is no 'use it now' option, unlike LP1F.
Section 5: life-sustaining treatment
You must tick one option
Option A gives your attorneys the power to consent to or refuse life-sustaining treatment on your behalf. Option B keeps that decision with your doctors, who must still consider your known wishes. Leaving it blank invalidates the form.
Neither answer is right or wrong. Option A suits people with strong views who trust their attorney to hold the line; Option B suits people who would rather clinicians decide. Whichever you choose, tell your attorneys what you would want.
Preferences worth including
- Where you would like to be cared for, and where you would rather not.
- Religious, cultural or dietary requirements.
- Who you want kept informed and involved.
Preferences are wishes; instructions are binding. Get the distinction right — see preferences and instructions and the health and welfare LPA page.
Common questions
Is this the same as a living will?
No. An advance decision to refuse treatment is a separate document that binds clinicians directly. An LP1H appoints people to decide. They can work together but the later document generally prevails on the same treatment.
Can attorneys override doctors?
Within the LPA's scope an attorney's refusal of treatment is legally binding, but clinicians are not required to provide treatment they consider clinically inappropriate.
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This is general information about how Lasting Powers of Attorney work in England and Wales. It is not legal advice about your situation. What we do and do not do.
Published by Estate Advisory Group