UK Parliamentary report on Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide
29th February 2024
The UK Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee has today published its report on Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide. More than 68,000 responses were made by members of the public through an online form, with more than 380 pieces of written evidence submitted, including written evidence from Cicely Saunders International and the Cicely Saunders Institute.
The Committee hopes the report will act as a comprehensive basis for future debate in both Houses of Parliament. The cross-party group of MPs say their report is not intended to provide a resolution to the debate but to present a broad body of evidence as a ‘significant and useful resource’ for future debates.
The report includes a broad range of evidence and identified the pursuit of high-quality compassionate end of life care as a common theme in the evidence it received. Agency and control for the person dying was also important. Despite the UK being a world leader in palliative and end-of-life care, the report concludes that access and provision of palliative care is patchy.
It recommends the Government ensures universal coverage of palliative and end-of-life services, including hospice care at home, and more specialists in palliative care and end-of-life pain relief, issues highlighted in CS International’s You Matter Because You Are You: an Action Plan for Better Palliative Care.