Commenting on MPs voting the
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through to Committee
Stage, Thea Stein, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust,
said:
“As this Bill progresses through
Parliament, MPs will need to carefully consider how such a change
in the law would interact with the NHS and social care. There are
large unanswered questions around funding, staffing and equity if
this Bill becomes law.
“In particular, it is still unclear
whether or not assisted dying would be fully publicly funded. If
it is, it will sit alongside services like social care and
hospice care which are not. Both of these services are
financially on the brink and MPs will need to understand how
current threadbare provision will interact with this new service,
what implications this may have for people paying for social
care, and how to fund assisted dying from a health budget that is
already overstretched.
“If assisted dying is not publicly
funded then it will be difficult for the Bill to achieve its aim
of improving choice for all patients. These are crucial questions
to address in the next stage.
“MPs will also need to scrutinise and
debate the staffing and regulatory questions this throws up. Will
NHS trusts be able or expected to provide this service? Will
medical professionals carry out this work privately or as part of
their NHS contract? Who will regulate this service? And what
changes will be needed to training and education to ensure staff
have the skills and knowledge to deliver it?
“Our work reveals that
care at the end of people's lives is not always equal and often
does not give people the choices they want. Meanwhile,
specialised palliative care misses out many who could benefit
from it. This Bill must focus minds on how to ensure better
provision of both palliative and end-of-life care so that people
opting for assisted dying are doing so in the context of a fairer
and more equitable service than we have
today”.
