Assisted Dying Vote is a Mess. Let's Get Serious About Palliative Care Instead.

We need a national, fully funded, specialist palliative care strategy, integrated with local services, to be implemented across the UK, starting with Wales. This isn't about the assisted dying debate, it's about giving people real choices at the end of their lives, which means ensuring they aren't suffering unnecessarily or feeling like a burden because their pain isn't managed. MPs voting it down is just kicking the can down the road.

Currently, the quality of end-of-life care is a postcode lottery. My sister-in-law, who has terminal cancer, has had excellent support from her local hospice team, but a friend whose mother passed away last year from a different condition felt they were left to manage severe pain with minimal district nurse input. It’s shocking that access to good pain management and specialist support can depend so much on where you live.