The Yorkshire Post has in recent days given prominent coverage to a joint letter signed by more than 130 Yorkshire healthcare professionals, warning MPs against approving the revived Leadbeater-Edwards Bill. Editor James Mitchinson said it was:
“Quite possibly the most heartfelt intervention on a matter of national significance from such a sizeable group of respected signatories I’ve seen during my time as an editor.
“I was so moved by it, I asked the designers to feature each and every name.”
Read the letter in full:
(Care Not Killing claims no affiliation with the signatories.)
We are healthcare workers in Yorkshire who are deeply concerned about the plan to re-introduce the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Whatever individuals’ views on the principles of assisted dying, we are united in our analysis that this Bill is not safe for patients.
A growing number of medical bodies have raised concerns about the Bill. Most recently, the British Medical Association adopted policy at their annual meeting on 22nd June 2026 to state that ‘assisted dying is not a medical treatment’, it ‘must not alter the fundamental principles of the NHS’ and ‘that no doctor would be required to have any involvement with assisted dying’. It also passed policy that ‘any assisted dying service should be commissioned as a separate service’.[i]
Other medical bodies have voiced serious concerns about the safety of the Bill. The Royal College of Physicians has raised concerns that Parliament ‘risk failing to protect vulnerable patients and uphold the integrity of clinical practice’.[ii] The Royal College of Psychiatrists have cautioned there are ‘too many unanswered questions about the safeguarding of people with mental illness’.[iii] The British Geriatrics Society have warned, ‘the bill does not contain sufficient safeguards for older people’[iv]. These warnings from multiple medical organisations warrant serious attention.
Our NHS is fragile, under immense pressure, and palliative care access is inequitable and woefully inadequate. Over half of deaths nationally are managed outside of acute hospitals.[v] Within Yorkshire, palliative care is provided by acute hospitals, primary care services, care homes, community services and hospices. Without national focus and funding reviews to bolster palliative care provision in each of these areas, we risk palliative care services becoming ever-more stretched. Our hospices are particularly struggling and remain propped up by charity shops, bake sales and fun runs. Rotheram Hospice projected an annual deficit of £1.1 million.[vi] Dove House Hospice (Hull) only received 10% of its income from the government.[vii] Across the country we have seen cuts in hospice services due to funding pressures.[viii] Across the health system, palliative care teams work in small numbers across vast areas, but are under-resourced and in more demand than ever before.
The Palliative and End of Life Care Commission highlighted that patients from rural areas, those with dementia or learning disabilities, and those from minoritised groups face pronounced inequities in access to palliative care, and therefore poorer outcomes.[ix] These groups will be further marginalised with the introduction of this Bill. This Bill fails the most vulnerable in our society. Healthcare should protect the vulnerable. Society should protect the vulnerable. Law should protect the vulnerable.
We urge Yorkshire MPs to reject this inadequate Bill and instead focus on improving access and investment into palliative care and hospice care. Genuine choice at the end of life can only be possible if people have consistent access to high-quality compassionate care. At present, too many people do not. We are failing our society by denying them that care, and we would fail them again by offering an assisted death before ensuring that proper end-of-life care is available to all.
(Please note that the views expressed are those of the individual signatories and do not necessarily reflect the views of their respective employers.)
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[i] BMA (2026) BMA affirms assisted dying policy at its Annual Representative Meeting. Available at: https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/bma-affirms-assisted-dying-policy-at-its-annual-representative-meeting (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[ii] Royal College of Physicians (2025) ‘Deficiencies in protecting patients and professionals’: RCP publishes its position on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Available at: https://www.rcp.ac.uk/news-and-media/news-and-opinion/deficiencies-in-protecting-patients-and-professionals-rcp-publishes-its-position-on-the-terminally-ill-adults-end-of-life-bill/ (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[iii] Royal College of Psychiatrists (2025) The RCPsych cannot support the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill for England and Wales in its current form. Available at: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/news-and-features/latest-news/detail/2025/05/13/the-rcpsych-cannot-support-the-terminally-ill-adults-(end-of-life)-bill-for-england-and-wales-in-its-current-form (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[iv] British Geriatrics Society (2026) BGS responds to assisted dying bill’s return to parliament. Available at: https://www.bgs.org.uk/bgs-responds-to-assisted-dying-bill%E2%80%99s-return-to-parliament (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[v] Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (2025) Palliative and end of life care profiles January 2025 update: Statistical commentary. GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/palliative-and-end-of-life-care-profiles-january-2025-update/palliative-and-end-of-life-care-profiles-january-2025-update-statistical-commentary (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[vi] Rotherham Hospice (2026) Rotherham Hospice sets out change plans to protect patient amid national hospice funding pressures. Available at: https://www.rotherhamhospice.org.uk/rotherham-hospice-sets-out-change-plans-to-grow-frontline-care-as-parliament-confirms-hospice-funding-crisis/ (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[vii] Dove House Hospice (2024) The impact of the Government’s budget plans on Dove House. Available at: https://www.dovehouse.org.uk/about-us/news/impact-of-the-government-s-budget/ (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[viii] Hospice UK (2026) Behind the cuts: How hospice services are shrinking across England. Available at: https://www.hospiceuk.org/latest-from-hospice-uk/behind-cuts-how-hospice-services-are-shrinking-across-england (Accessed: 30 June 2026).
[ix] Finlay, I., Richards, M., Maskell, R. et al. (2025) Palliative care and end-of-life care: Opportunities for England. Volume 1. The Commission on Palliative and End-of-Life Care. Available at: https://palliativecarecommission.uk/reports (Accessed: 30 June 2026)
