Saint Francis Hospice Assisted Dying Position Statement
Many people affected by advanced and incurable illness experience great difficulties, as do those important to them, and those caring for them.
We acknowledge the many schools of thought for and against a change in the law on assisted dying. We fully understand that many people and many organisations have strong opinions on this sensitive and emotive issue. The views of our own staff, volunteers, trustees, and the people we care for will reflect the full spectrum of views on assisted dying.
Hospice UK (the national charity for hospice and end of life care) recently published their neutral position on this topic. In line with Hospice UK, we are neither opposing nor supporting a change in the law, but we do recognise the importance of widely exploring opinions on the role of hospice care going forward should the law change.
We take extremely seriously our primary role, which is to deliver excellent specialist palliative and end of life care. We cannot do this alone, so we promote and champion palliative care widely, advising, supporting, teaching, learning and sharing best practice with our partners in care with the goal that all who need support and care have easy access to it. Yet sadly there is not equality of access to palliative and end of life care, and we have much work to do. The Government has given a commitment to increasing the NHS provision of funding/support for palliative care delivery (through the Health and Care Act 2022), but that support remains relatively low, with the NHS providing only around 30% of the funds needed.
Within parliament, papers informing the assisted dying debate strongly emphasise the need for a substantial sustained increase in funding for, and attention to palliative and end of life care provision. We welcome the emphasis on this, and the emphasis on the importance of making good palliative care accessible to everyone, whoever they are, wherever they live and whatever the outcome of the debate and will continue to work on ensuring that Government and NHS commitments are delivered.
