Baroness O'Loan (CB)

My Lords, of the 43 amendments in this group, 35 are in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Pannick and Lord Birt. They propose a framework for a completely new process outside that already created by this defective Bill, requiring a service of both advice and assistance. This includes the provision of assisted suicide every day of the year, including public holidays, Christmas, Easter et cetera, from 8 am to 6 pm, unless the doctor is in the house where the drug is being administered, in which case he has to stay. As has been said, there is no impact assessment on the cost of this new service and it is a relevant matter. Concerns must arise, given the advice of the Health Secretary that there is already a lack of access to high-quality end-of-life care and that there are tightened finances within the NHS, which could add to the pressure faced by dying patients. These amendments require a new service that must be part of the NHS. We have heard arguments against that, and I support them. They impose deadlines and create processes for enforcing those deadlines, which will provide assisted death at a time when the person who is terminally ill will, in many cases, struggle to access palliative care; they may even never be able to do so. The assisted suicide service would take priority. There is no process, as has been said, for a personal guide to get palliative care or the necessary social care. Would the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, be willing to accept amendments that would require palliative care treatment options to be available and accessible within similar structures and timeframes?