Streeting: Assisted dying law could come at expense of other NHS services

The Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ordered the Department of Health to analyse the costs to the NHS of implementing any change in the law on assisted dying.
Mr Streeting has announced his plans to vote against the Bill when it is debated in Parliament later this month.
On Wednesday, he suggested there may need to be cuts to other NHS services if the changes are brought in.
He said: “Now that we’ve seen the Bill published, I’ve asked my department to look at the costs that would be associated with providing a new service to enable assisted dying to go forward, because I’m very clear that regardless of my own personal position or my own vote, my department and the whole government will respect the will of Parliament if people vote for assisted dying.”
Mr Streeting, who was commenting after delivering a speech to the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool, said: “I think that is a chilling slippery slope argument, and I would hate for people to opt for assisted dying because they think they’re saving someone somewhere … money, whether that’s relatives or the NHS.”
Speaking to ITV News earlier, the cabinet minister said: “I’m voting against assisted dying. I’ve got practical concerns about the Bill.”
He added: “There are a number of issues, moral and ethical questions… It’s for MP’s to make their own decision.”
Mr.Streeting did not comment on whether he was influencing backbenchers by referring to the impact of palliative care on an assisted dying Bill but insisted: “The vote on assisted dying is a free vote.”
Downing Street did not comment whether Mr Streeting was right to suggest that NHS services could be impacted by the Bill.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Ultimately, as the Health Secretary himself recognised, these are issues which Parliament are going to debate and then Government will respect the views of Parliament, but we are getting ahead of parliamentary process, which in terms of debating haven’t begun yet.”
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The Health Secretary told Times Radio on Wednesday that new legislation on assisted dying “would be a big change” for the health service.
He added: “No-one should be compelled, for example, to take part in assisted dying if they’ve got moral or ethical objections as clinicians. That certainly would be one of my red lines.
Asked if the law change does go through, whether he will have to find the money from somewhere else, Mr Streeting said: “Yep. To govern is to choose.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Streeting has said he believes palliative care for terminally-ill people can become good enough for that not to be a barrier to legalising assisted suicide.
A debate and vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is expected on November 29. It will be the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015.
Only terminally-ill adults with less than six months to live who have a settled wish to end their lives would be eligible under the new law.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has described her proposed legislation as the “most robust” in the world.
Opposition campaigners have raised fears of coercion and a slippery slope to wider legislation taking in more people.
Speaking at Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said: “I will not be putting pressure on any MP to vote one way or the other..
He added: “I personally will study the details of the Bill which has now been published today because safeguards have always been extremely important to me.”
Sir Keir has previously supported assisted dying but the Government has pledged to remain neutral on the issue.
High-profile supporters of a change in the law include Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and revealed in December that she had joined Dignitas due to the current law.
However, campaign group Our Duty Of Care, representing doctors and nurses, has sent a letter to the Prime Minister arguing it is “impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include protection from coercion and future expansion”.
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