Hospices are creaking under the strain, what will happen to these 'ministering angels' if assisted dying becomes law?

20 June 2025, 09:46 | Updated: 20 June 2025, 10:03

I lost my lovely mum earlier this year. It still hurts but something I will never forget is the kindness and gentleness of the hospice nurses.

When we called for them, they came, like ministering angels, at any hour of the day and night.

They were exceptional. It’s made me so grateful for the work of hospices – a work that thousands of families benefit from each year.

In March, the hospice that cared for my mum was forced to make redundancies.

Passionate fundraisers have thrown themselves out of planes and walked over hot coals to support its work, but it hasn’t been enough.

Our hospice – and others like it across the UK – are struggling to stay afloat. I worry about their ability to cope going forward.

And I believe it will be far more difficult for the hospice sector if ‘assisted dying’ legislation goes through.

During committee scrutiny of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, MPs heard a striking statistic.

Close to half of members of the Association of Palliative Medicine – 43 per cent – have said that they would no longer work in a hospice if it offered assisted deaths.

Extrapolating this statistic to cover hospice staff across the country suggests that thousands of nurses and healthcare assistants and hundreds of specialist doctors could withdraw from this area of healthcare in the aftermath of a change in the law.

Such losses would be devastating.

This area of healthcare is already chronically under resourced.

Last year, a study by Hospice UK revealed that around one in five hospices had either cut their services or were planning to do so as a result of pressures.

Survey data also shows that 8 in 10 palliative medics are facing staffing gaps, and more than half are unable to take holiday leave because of them.

It’s difficult to see how things will improve without very serious investment and political prioritisation of palliative care.

This is doubly important given the cultural landscape we face in the UK.

An ageing population and declining birth-rate mean that already significant pressure on services is only going to increase in the coming years.

One hospice CEO recently warned that: Baby boomers are about to swamp the whole of the NHS, hospice and palliative care system”.

MPs should realise that introducing doctor assisted suicide will have an immediate, and significant, impact on an area of healthcare that is already creaking under the strain.

Even if job losses in this sector are recovered over time, many palliative experts are concerned that assisted suicide will have a long-term, negative impact on services.

For one thing, for instance, some patients who know that a hospice is offering doctor assisted suicide will avoid hospice care, given ethical objections, or a lack of trust in professionals who take part.

Their access to care, and end of life experiences, will be negatively impacted as a result.

Conversely, people could be pressure towards assisted death due to gaps in care.

How many Britons facing a long wait for access to a hospice, or unable to get the care they need to die at home, will opt to end their lives out of desperation?

The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has articulated this concern, saying the palliative care system is not "where it needs to be to give people a real choice".

Given a lack of opt out for hospices under Kim Leadbeater’s legislation, it is also possible that hospices with a religious designation will be forced to offer assisted suicide or close their doors – an outcome that has, sadly, been witnessed overseas.

The provision of hospice care in an entire area would be diminished by such an outcome.

Though it is uncomfortable to think about, there is also the potential for investment in assisted suicide to be prioritised over palliative care, given huge discrepancies in costs.

If our law changes, a two-track system will emerge where one response to terminal illness involves costly and complex ongoing care by various professionals, and another involves an inexpensive dose of lethal drugs.

In Canada, the state has noted the cost saving potential of ‘assisted dying’. Some critics also envision a race to the bottom in terms of assisted death provision.

Kim Leadbeater MP, who is spearheading the campaign for a change in the law, has confirmed that private, for-profit providers could be used – bidding for contracts that allow them to reap financially from assisted suicides.

It is striking that palliative doctors – the people who care for dying people day in, day out – are overwhelmingly opposed to assisted suicide.

They know that if the government wants to fix and future proof palliative care, this practice will undermine efforts to do so.

MPs must oppose the assisted suicide Bill today.

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Caroline Ansell was previously the Conservative MP for Eastbourne and is now Director of Advocacy and Policy at the social policy charity CARE

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