Marie Curie responds to the assisted dying bill

Marie Curie executive director of policy and research, Dr Sam Royston, said: "If the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is to proceed then Parliamentarians must recognise the perilous state of our palliative and end of life care system and ensure there are urgent plans in place to address it. Marie Curie maintains a neutral position on assisted dying, however, the idea of anybody choosing an assisted death because our health system cannot offer them the care they need at the end of life should be intolerable to all of us.

"Too many people are not currently getting access to the palliative and end of life care they need, resulting in avoidable pain, unnecessary trips to A&E and distress for families and loved ones. Our recent Better End of Life report revealed patchy and inconsistent end of life care provision across England and Wales with some shocking findings including that 1 in 5 dying people had no contact with their GP in the last three months of life. We also know the current benefits system is not fit for purpose to support dying people, with 111,000 people a year dying in poverty.

"Within the bill, there should be recognition that genuine choice at the end of life cannot exist unless dying people are able to choose to receive high quality palliative and end of life care. It can affect every aspect of their end of life experience, from whether they can choose their place of death, to whether or not they can choose who they have with them at the end of life. We know from our public attitudes to death and dying survey that these are critical choices for dying people.

"We met with Kim Leadbeater MP prior to the publication of her bill and suggested that a clause be included requiring the government to prepare and publish a strategy for the urgent improvement of end of life care. We are disappointed not to see that included in the draft bill, but will continue to work with parliamentarians on all sides of the debate to ensure that robust plans are put in place to ensure everybody is able to access high quality palliative care."