Science & Environment

Letter from Maureen Wade, retired UNISON member

As an ex-palliative care social worker, I have some real concerns in relation to the introduction of assisted dying legislation. We should all be able to choose how and where we die, and that we can end our lives with dignity and free of pain and, hopefully, surrounded by those we love.

Choice is a very laudable concept, but it certainly does not exist when it comes to palliative care provision at present in the UK. Provision is currently very patchy and in the main, hospice provision is dependent on charitable donations. My local hospice has recently announced that it has to let go twenty of its staff and close eight of its beds. In addition to this, it will have to reduce it’s hospice at home service.

This crisis in terms of palliative care is being replicated across the country.
I recently spoke to a former colleague who worked in palliative care in Wiltshire, who said her hospice has had to reduce staff and restructure its service.

On a daily basis we see news articles talking about the crisis in the sector, and Hospice UK, which represents 200 hospices across the UK, say at least a fifth of hospice provision faces cuts.

The palliative care movement was developed in the 1960s by Dame Cecily Saunders, who famously said “You matter because you are you , and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully , but also to live until you die..”

The reality for most working people, however, is that they cannot even access their GP services, and they wait weeks for hospital appointments and a diagnosis of their condition. Cancer waiting times are currently at an all-time high, with only 64.1 percent of patients starting treatment within 62 days of being diagnosed, meaning 100,000 waited longer than they should for life-saving care.

How will assisted dying legislation make a difference? Those with the means will always be able to buy appropriate treatment and care, and they can afford to use the services of Dignitas if they so choose.

We have to address the inequities within our health care system: how can you have a choice about the way you die if you cannot access the appropriate services to support your end of life care?

This legislation is the slippery slope – they say safeguards are built into the legislation, that individuals will not be coerced into making a decision, that they will be deemed to have mental capacity, and that they will be assessed as terminal with only six months to live. But in my professional life, I never met a doctor who was able to give an exact time frame in which an individual would die.

What I am afraid of, is people making decisions about ending their life, because they don’t want to be a burden to families or the NHS. The countries who have adopted similar legislation have over time widened the scope for those who can end their lives, including to those with long term chronic health conditions and those with mental Ill health – will it be those with dementia next?

As Socialists we need to fight for properly state-funded good palliative care. Individuals should not feel they are a burden and should have the appropriate care and support to the end of their life, and hopefully they will then, be able, as Keats said, “to cease upon the midnight with no pain”.