Alternative Approach – Care Not Killing

Alternative Approach

Key Points

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What will end-of-life care look like in 2045?

By then, the number of people over 85-years-old is projected by NHS England to almost double to 3.1 million

Will assisted suicide become so normalised in society that the right to die will become a duty to die?

Or will Labour’s new legacy prove to have been the timely development of an end-of-life care service that is fit for the future?

What if we can improve the quality of dying for everyone in the UK?

We can certainly begin to do that if people can access palliative care earlier, at home and out of hours and at weekends.

EARLY REFERRAL

Palliative care should begin at the point of terminal diagnosis to anticipate and mitigate the common problems of a terminal illness.

Early referral pays dividends. It relieves pressure on GPs and acute hospital services when patients don’t need to see their GP or go to A&E for pain relief and symptom support.

HOSPICE AT HOME

Offering more people palliative care at home will help reduce the pressure on the NHS.

It not only reduces hospital admissions, and crises visits to A&E, but also supports a faster discharge in the event of an admission. It even reduces costs by more than doubling the number of those likely to die at home.

OUT-OF-HOURS

Palliative care needs to be available when we need it most.

There are particular shortages of palliative care services out-of-hours and at weekends. People need someone who is there when it is difficult, when the crises hit. Not to wait, not to be pushed from pillar to post, no answerphones.

“It’s not necessarily about spending more money. It’s about spending it more intelligently and wisely.”

DR GORDON MACDONALD post on X

Let’s support the Health Secretary in his mission to fix palliative care.

If the Government is willing re-balance funding priorities to improve access to palliative and end-of-life services, the UK hospice sector is ready and willing to help improve the quality of dying in ways which dovetail with the government tactics of digitisation, prevention and community based solutions.

We urgently need a proper conversation on social and palliative care in this country.

But this Private Member’s Bill is not the way to do it.

This issue is too important to rush through now without considering all the consequences.

Many MPs are understandably hesitant because this will have enormous consequences for our society.

If you are not sure, vote against the Bill, not the conversation.

Voting no to the Assisted Suicide Bill should be the start, not the end, of the conversation on end of life in this country.

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