Chris Whitty says assisted dying could come in within two years but warns it shouldn't be rushed
28 January 2025, 13:01
England's chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty has said assisted dying could come in within two years but it should not be rushed.
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Sir Chris said his view on whether assisted dying should be legalised was "completely neutral".
However, if it does become law, there should be no "firm deadline" for it to be implemented.
The Bill could see terminally ill adults in England and Wales with under six months to live legally allowed to end their lives, subject to approval by two doctors and a High Court judge.
An assisted dying service could be implemented in just two years, Sir Chris said, but the process should not be rushed.
"As was seen in Covid, the NHS like any service can swing very fast if there is a need for speed," he told MPs.
"In this case, I think most people in society would say the key thing is to get this right. Personally I would rather this wasn’t running against a timeline.
"You wouldn’t want it to drag on forever because then you have uncertainty for everybody.
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"But certainly I think Duncan [Burton, chief nursing officer for England at NHS England] and I would both say two years seems a reasonable starting point but some things might take longer than that to work out how we are going to provide this in the most safe, equitable way, dealing with minority and other groups for, example."
He added: "My view is this is something which is best not done at speed if you can avoid it."
When asked about amendments already put forward for the Bill, Sir Chris said: "It's very, very difficult - I could not, at this point, write down a law that would actually be helpful to someone dealing with a whole range of different scenarios where they're going to have to have an end of life discussion.
"So my own view, for what it's worth, is I would do fewer rather than more, and that is partly because simplicity is the key to really good safeguards, in my experience.
"If safeguards are really clear and simple, everybody understands them.
"And if you are six people, what does this mean? Six people will give you the same answer.
"The more complicated you give things, the more room for ambiguity uncertainty, because different things are playing in, the more difficult it is for the patient, their family, and those medical and nursing professionals who are who are assisting them actually to navigate systems.
"So I think without in any sense wishing to curtail what Parliament which might wish to do, I would make a plea for simplicity wherever possible, and for accepting the extraordinary variety of people's lives which may have unpredictable consequences in terms of the way that the end of their life plays out."
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Sir Chris is one of about 50 witnesses who are giving evidence across three days this week as a committee of 23 MPs prepares to look in detail at each part of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP behind the Bill, said the committee will hear from people with a "wide range of views" on the Bill, "some in favour in principle, others against, and many with a neutral stance".
In a letter to MPs this week, she said: "However, they have been selected above all for their expertise and experience and the contribution they can make to help guide the committee towards whatever amendments may be needed to make the Bill as effective and workable as possible.
"I want to reassure colleagues that the whole committee is determined to work collaboratively and respectfully to reflect the very positive debate we had at second reading and to ensure that the best possible Bill is ready when it returns to the House at report stage later in the year."
When the committee met formally for its first session last week, chairman Sir Roger Gale reminded members of the need to be "civil and courteous" to each other.
The panel is expected to start line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill a week later than originally planned, on February 11, to give MPs more time to consider the "large" amount of written evidence so far put forward.
Committee stage is likely to then last a week longer to account for the later start to the formal scrutiny, meaning overall timetabling would not be affected.
No date has been given yet for the Bill to return to the Commons for further debate by all MPs at report stage but it is likely to be towards the end of April.
