Member

I once asked palliative care experts what the longest time was that it had taken them to bring what seemed to be untreatable pain under control when a patient was admitted to a hospice. They told me the longest it had taken them was 12 hours. Now, the Bill does not require that a patient is suffering pain for the system to operate, but those who are scrutinising how it would work in practice have been repeatedly accused of making people suffer unbearable pain. Treatment for pain is almost invariably available from experts, provided those experts are provided by the state. Our failing as a country is that we do not provide the expert palliative care to those who need it—my emphasis is on the words “expert palliative care”. I ask the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, this: does he still accept that all options for end-of-life care should be fully explored? He once described this as a prerequisite for assisted dying. Again, can he share with the Committee any assessment of the cost or logistics of making further provision for access to palliative care experts? Will the Minister share any information as to the real costs of extending provision for palliative care and the savings from assisted death which may inevitably result if this is not done?