Clinicians meet with elected representatives at the Welsh Parliament. Dr Sarah Davies was amongst them and discusses what happened on an interesting day meeting activists and politicians
Author: Dr Sarah Davies, Respiratory Medicine Consultant, Glan Clwyd Hospital, Betsi Cadwalladr University Health Board, Rhyl, Wales
The Terminally Ill Adults (TIA) Bill is currently being discussed in England and Wales and has to go through several stages before it can be agreed in law. The TIA Bill impinges on a number of areas of devolved responsibility as it seeks to alter the England and Wales Suicide Act. Permission is therefore required from the devolved government in Wales.
On Wednesday 14th January 2026, a group of clinicians alongside two Baronesses from the House of Lords, as well as the actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr, travelled to the Welsh government building (Senedd) in Cardiff to meet with Members of the Senedd. The meeting was hosted and sponsored by David Rees Member of Senedd (Labour MS), Delyth Jewell (Plaid Cymru MS) and Mark Isherwood (Conservative MS).
The invitation came following the publication of a high-profile open letter1 signed by over 250 health care professionals & an accompanying media campaign ahead of the Legislative Consent Motion (LCM)2 debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 3.
The authors of the open letter are urging Senedd Members to reject legislative consent to submit to this Bill from Wales at this stage. Signatories explained that rejecting the Bill would provide the Welsh Government with greater autonomy to decide, through secondary legislation, if and how any assisted suicide framework might be implemented in Wales should the Bill ultimately receive Royal Assent.
Potentially, a Welsh Government could provide a service external to the National Health Service (NHS), yet still free at the point of use. Rejection of the LCM does not automatically equate to the introduction of only private assisted suicide services in Wales.
Still, we are a long way from the TIA Bill becoming law and the signatories also raised a number of other key concerns which were also discussed in person with meeting attendees. These include concerns that assisted suicide cannot be considered to meet the definition of a health care treatment. Concerns surrounding prognostication inaccuracies and coercion remain.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 for England and Wales was not designed to assess suicidality. The proposals within the Bill will undermine ‘The Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Delivery Plan for Wales 2025-2028’4. Regions which have permitted assisted suicide have also seen an increase in their overall suicide rates.5
The lack of availability of palliative care and other supportive services across Wales is a major concern. Currently, a quarter of Wales does not have access to a hospice. Healthcare teams cover vast areas with rurality impacting on service provision.
The actress Liz Carr (Good Omens, Loki, Silent Witness, Witcher) who made the BBC documentary ‘Better off Dead’6, explained how living in an ableist society can feel, for people living with long-term conditions and disability. She outlined that not a single organisation for disabled people supports the Bill. Fears were shared that people might seek assisted suicide due to lack of equipment, carers or adaptations to assist people to live.
It was a day where clinicians, politicians, and campaigners got together to discuss complexities in healthcare, politics, devolution and human dignity.
Links:
Letter by Clinicians on proposed Assisted Dying and implications for Wales – Nation Cymru
BBC coverage in Welsh language
References
- Welsh-Healthcare-Professionals-Open-Letter-to-Members-of-Senedd-Our-Duty-of-Care-1.pdf
- Legislative Consent: Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
- Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament
- Suicide prevention and self-harm strategy: delivery plan 2025 to 2028 | GOV.WALES
- Suicide Prevention: Does Legalising Assisted Suicide Make Things Better Or Worse? (Professor David Albert Jones) | Anscombe Bioethics
- BBC One – Better Off Dead?
Declaration of interests:
I have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: none.