Action needed to protect hospice services as assisted dying Bill returns to Parliament

As MPs prepare to vote on the returned The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Hospice UK is demanding urgent action to protect hospice services so everyone can get the care they need.

Should MPs vote the Bill through Second Reading, it will progress against a backdrop of ever-increasing cuts to frontline hospice services. Hospice UK today reveals that since the introduction of the first iteration of this Bill in October 2024, 28 hospices in England have announced cuts to services. Of which, seven have made cuts in the last five months since the proposed Bill fell on its first attempt.

Every cut to hospice services means less essential care available to people who need it. Already one in three people who need palliative care miss out on the support they need at the end of their lives.* Hospice ÚK data shows that nearly six in ten hospices have made or are considering cuts to frontline services this year. Closed beds and decreasing community visits means hospice care is being eroded across the country, just as demand for hospice services is increasing. 

Toby Porter, CEO of Hospice UK says: “I am sure that today's debate will again see MPs both for and against this Bill agree that palliative care must be improved, including fixing hospice funding. 

"But the reality is that over the nearly two years since this Bill was first debated by MPs, the opposite has happened. Nationwide, hospice services are shrinking, beds are closing and community hospice visits are falling. It’s now harder than ever before for people to get the end of the life care they need. At a time when demand for hospice care is rising, patients face dying in a hospital bed, or worse still on a corridor in avoidable pain and distress.

“Hospice UK considers it unsanctionable that someone might even consider an assisted death in the future because they fear they won’t get the pain relief or other care they and their loved ones need at the end of their lives.

“Real choice at the end of life means that everyone can access high quality and compassionate care to support a peaceful and dignified death.”

Hospice UK is calling for key amendments to the Bill to provide critical legal protection for hospices. These amendments are vital to ensure hospices have the autonomy to make their own decision on how their premises, staff and vital resources are used to deliver assisted dying services. The Bill’s sponsors have confirmed they intend to table these amendments in the House of Lords.

Hospice UK has no collective view on whether assisted dying should be legal in England and Wales, but regardless of the bill’s outcome, Hospice UK is urging the Government to act on the clear consensus held across the political spectrum. 

“The Prime Minister has confirmed palliative care funding must be fixed before any debate around assisted dying. We warmly welcome his commitment. Regardless of which way the vote goes, we must seize this moment to improve access to high-quality palliative and end of life care and ensure hospice services are there for all that need it, now and forever,” added Porter.

*Data from Marie Curie.