Assisted dying would place added pressure on NHS, hospice and social care capacity, creating a “substantial task” for the healthcare system, especially as demand rises, according to a health thinktank.
The Nuffield Trust, which states it is neutral on whether assisted dying should be legalised, has examined evidence from nine countries which have already introduced it.
The report warns that the UK will require substantial planning, infrastructure and funding, which are “all scarce in today’s NHS“, or assisted dying will become “yet another service people struggle to access”.
Some of the report’s key recommendations:
• Allow for a “significant lead-in time” to avoid overwhelming the NHS
• Plan for proper initial funding and ongoing investment
• Monitor the legislation and enforce effective regulation
• Appropriate training, including for nurses and social care staff
• Ensure healthcare professionals can opt out of involvement
• Record ethnic groups, sex and regions to compare inequalities
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The report said: “In countries where assisted dying is legal, policymakers often underestimate the extra capacity needed in the health and care system to get the service up and running and the ongoing funding needed to deliver it.”
It adds that assisted dying “would place added pressure on NHS, hospice and social care capacity” and “organisations will have a substantial task implementing the policy”.
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Legislation on assisted dying is currently before Westminster, and would apply to England and Wales, while a separate but similar bill for Scotland is working its way through Holyrood.
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The report said that, in other nations with devolved set-ups, there needs to be processes and systems to “ensure consistency” and warned about the legal impact of assisted dying “potentially varying across the different countries of the UK”.
Nuffield Trust deputy director of research Sarah Scobie said: “With assisted dying remaining a contested issue, and our health and care systems struggling under immense pressure, implementing a new service won’t be straightforward.
“Much of the UK debate around assisted dying so far has focused on avoiding a ‘slippery slope’ towards misuse of the service, but many people in other countries face barriers to accessing assisted dying.
“If parliamentarians choose to legalise it, they will need to get the balance right and worry not just about people who have an assisted death when they shouldn’t, but also about people who can’t when they are meant to be eligible.”
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Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, who is spearheading the legislation currently before Holyrood, welcomed the report and its recommendations.
“At the crux of the report, and indeed my bill, is the need for investment in both safety and compassion,” he said.
Dr Gordon Macdonald, head of the campaign group Care Not Killing, said that assisted dying proposals should be “ditched”.
“It is time that parliament ditched the dangerous and controversial bill, and instead turn their attention to fixing the UK’s broken palliative and social care systems that are failing many vulnerable, elderly and disabled people,” he said.
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In August, Dignity in Dying posted on X that the planned reforms in parliament were “backed by the public and built on careful evidence and experience”.
“Three-quarters of the country support an assisted dying law for the terminally ill, and parliament is finally catching up with the public’s will,” the post added.
