Another senior politician has weighed in against the effort to impose assisted suicide in the UK. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that introducing assisted suicide would divert crucial funds from other areas of healthcare.
Streeting has instructed the Department of Health and Social Care to conduct a cost analysis of Kim Leadbeater MP’s assisted suicide Bill, because it would have “resource implications” for palliative care and the rest of the NHS.
Streeting previously promised that he will vote against Kim Leadbeater MP’s assisted suicide Bill on 29th November, over concerns that palliative care is not “where it needs to be to give people a real choice”.
The Health Secretary stated: “If Parliament chooses to go ahead with assisted dying, it is making a choice that this is an area to prioritise for investment.”
"Any new service comes at the expense of other competing pressures and priorities. People can see the state of public finances, the state of our public services, and we do need to be in the business of making choices”.
Streeting raised the concern that patients could seek assisted suicide to save the NHS money, saying: “You do touch on the slippery slope argument, which is the potential for cost savings if people choose to opt for assisted dying rather than stay in the care of the care providers or the NHS”