Routine treatment

Any medical treatment other than significant treatment under the Act is routine treatment.

A health practitioner can administer routine treatment without consent if the patient does not have decision-making capacity to make the medical treatment decision, and there is no relevant instructional directive (in an advance care directive) or medical treatment decision maker for the patient.

If they do so, the health practitioner must set out in the patient’s clinical records the details of:

• the health practitioner’s attempts to locate an advance care directive and a medical treatment decision maker
• the exact nature of the routine treatment and the reason for the decision to administer it.