As the bill returns, a group of senior Australian palliative care clinicians and voluntary assisted dying providers has written directly to Westminster MPs.

Ahead of the second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on 11 September, a group of 11 senior Australian palliative care clinicians and VAD providers has written directly to Westminster MPs in the letter seen by Healthcare Today.

Signatories to the letter include Chloe Furst, medical director of the Royal Adelaide Hospital Department of Acute and Urgent Care, Clare Fellingham, consultant anaesthetist and Western Australia clinical lead for voluntary assisted dying (VAD) at the East Metropolitan Health Service, and Peter Allcroft, chair of Palliative Care Australia and senior staff specialist in palliative care for South Australia.

“In the two years since we last contacted you, our view that palliative care and assisted dying go hand in hand has only strengthened, as a direct result of our firsthand professional experiences, and of seeing more examples of the immense positive impact this choice can have on the dying people we care for,” they write.

Concerned about misleading claims in the media, they point out that Palliative Care Australia’s 2024 National Workforce Survey found that just 2% of the palliative care workforce surveyed believed the introduction of assisted dying legislation had decreased the demand for palliative care.

“The overwhelming majority felt it had either no effect or had increased the demand for palliative care,” they continue.

Palliative care

Increasingly established

Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) has been available in the state of Victoria since 2019. Since then, every state and territory has chosen to legislate, and VAD has become an increasingly established part of end-of-life care.

To date, around 7,000 Australians have used these laws to choose an ending that suits them – accounting for approximately 2% of total deaths. More than 1,600 trained health professionals provide VAD services nationwide.

They take issue with the argument that the British press has chosen to pitch VAD and palliative care against each other.

The signatories point out that data collated from every VAD oversight body in Australia shows that over 80% of people seeking VAD have also accessed palliative care. This figure will likely increase as palliative care providers become more comfortable with assisted dying and can discuss it with patients as another option.

A third of people who are approved for the VAD substance do not end up taking it, but it is of immense comfort that the option is there, they add.

“We believe that comprehensive end-of-life care includes both palliative care and the option of VAD. Supporting individuals’ autonomy and discussing end-of-life options is consistent with being a good physician and what medicine is all about. We consider it a privilege to play our part at a precious time in people’s lives – their ending,” they write.

Following the failure of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at the end of April, the bill was reintroduced by Lauren Edwards, Labour MP for Rochester and Strood, and it returns to the Commons for a second reading.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will not vote to avoid influencing the emotional debate.