My thoughts following the fall of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
As many constituents know, I have long been supportive of the principle of assisted dying for competent adults with a terminal diagnosis and a prognosis of less than six months' life expectancy. I voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill last Friday (11 September) as I did last June when the Bill was progressing in the previous session of Parliament.
I am of course disappointed that the Bill won’t be taken forward at this time – as I know many constituents in Bristol South will be.
I first came to seek a change in the law to allow Assisted Dying when I was working with clinicians supporting people at the end of life, almost 20 years ago.
Too often, it was no-one’s job to talk with patients about how their illness would likely progress and what the end could be like. The patient had little information and often had no choice about the inevitable end of their life. Much has improved since then: the NHS is less paternalistic; a general increase in life expectancy accompanied by more people living with chronic illness means more people are having those important conversations about death before it is too late.
But still, dying people and their families are too often not empowered in those crucial moments. I’m proud of my work in Opposition chairing the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life. I had hoped that we would be able to change the law but also I hoped that we could shine a light on the current situation and improve end of life care, choice, co-production and training for clinicians. And we have shone that light.
One of the central themes of the debate in Parliament was around improving palliative care. Since the election, I have had the privilege of serving as Minister of State in the Department of Health and recognising the need for change in end of life care is something that I and my ministerial colleagues have been working to address. Whether that is through the development of an evidence-based modern service framework for palliative care or the £125 million boost in capital funding for hospices. This must be a moment where we redouble our efforts to deliver public services that are as good at caring and being respectful in dying as we seek them to be in life.
Thank you to all the constituents who took the time to write to me about the Bill. In many cases, the stories shared were deeply personal and emotional. This was reflected in the debate in Parliament, where I must pay tribute to Claire Hazelgrove who spoke so movingly about her mum’s death last year and to my former ministerial colleague Ashley Dalton who is living with a terminal cancer diagnosis now. Both spoke on opposite sides of the debate but exemplify the importance of talking frankly about death.
My hope now is that people can come together and build on the experience of the last 2 years debating this bill so that we can talk about death as part of life.
