Almost eight in ten say disabled people need better care before assisted suicide is approved

Support rose to 81% among people with a disability or health condition.

The polling comes ahead of the Second Reading of Lauren Edwards MP’s assisted suicide Bill on Friday. The survey of 2,071 UK adults was carried out by British Polling Council member Whitestone Insight between 28th and 31st August.

It also highlights concerns about whether people have a genuine choice if care and support are unavailable.

Almost seven in ten respondents said disabled and older people struggling to access support may be more likely to seek assisted suicide because of the current state of NHS and social care funding.

Mike Smith, spokesperson for Not Dead Yet UK, which commissioned the polling, told LBC: “We need to sort out palliative care, social care and the support disabled people rely on before Parliament introduces assisted suicide.

“This Bill will not operate in some perfect world where everybody already gets the help they need.

“We have to consider the environment and reality this law would be introduced into. If somebody has spent months fighting for a care package, cannot get the help they need to live independently, is struggling financially or feels their family cannot cope, those things matter when they are making a decision about ending their life.”

The findings come as questions remain over access to care and support for disabled people and those needing palliative care.

Healthwatch England estimates that up to 1.5 million working-age disabled adults in England could be eligible for social care or other support but are not receiving it, while Hospice UK says almost one in three people who need palliative care currently miss out.

Crossbench peer and Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said the findings show why access to care must be considered alongside any changes to the law.

“You cannot say somebody has a genuine choice if an assisted death is available but the care and support they need to live is not. A safeguard written into a Bill cannot produce a missing care worker, restore a care package or reopen a hospice bed."

She added that MPs should judge the legislation against “the health and social care system people actually have, not the one we would like them to have.”

The Government’s own Equality Impact Assessment also acknowledges concerns about the circumstances in which disabled people could make a decision about assisted suicide.

It identifies “neglect, poverty and difficult living conditions” as potential structural pressures, and warns that pressure may arise where appropriate alternative services and support, including palliative care, are unavailable.

MPs will vote on the Bill at Second Reading on Friday 11th September.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “It will be for Parliament to decide whether the bill on assisted dying is passed.

"Irrespective of that decision, we remain firmly committed to ensuring that all disabled people receive high quality, compassionate care.

"That’s why we’re providing the NHS with record funding and creating a National Care Service with clear consistent standards of support for everyone who needs it.”