Assisted dying/assisted suicide and the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
The Committee Stage for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has now finished. This means that there is now a Bill amended by the Committee to be debated and voted on once again in the Commons.
This proposal is a Private Members’ Bill in Westminster, covering England and Wales.
In January, we submitted both and to the Public Bill Committee for the Bill, primarily focusing on the reliability of its consent procedures. The College has met with MPs and will continue to work with parliamentarians and policymakers on the issue. Last month, we met with Kim Leadbeater for a second time to discuss parts of the Bill that are relevant to psychiatry, including workforce implications.
The College’s next formal engagement with the parliamentary process will be prior to the Report Stage, which is now set to take place on 16 May. RCPsych in Wales will also be engaging with Members of the Senedd as they consider a Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Bill in the coming weeks.
Just as we briefed MPs prior to the Second Reading of the Bill in November last year, we will be doing so once again next month. We will link directly to the evidence we have provided to the Committee to date and provide the College’s views on the Bill as amended.
Our views are based on extensive consideration by the cross-College working group, surveys of membership, a debate held for membership in London, engagement with the membership on proposals in Scotland, England, Wales and Jersey, submissions by other experts and organisations, and discussions with colleagues in other jurisdictions.
Last year, RCPsych in Scotland gave both written evidence and on Liam McArthur MSP’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) to the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Sport and Social Care Committee. The Committee in Holyrood is now writing their report on the evidence they received. There will then be a Stage 1 debate and vote on the general principles of the Bill before the end of May this year.
Members can access material and information about our engagement with policymakers on this topic on our page on assisted dying/assisted suicide.