NHS could face cuts under assisted dying law, warns Streeting
NHS services could face cuts to cover the cost of carrying out assisted deaths, the Health Secretary has warned.
Under the Bill passed on Friday, the NHS will be expected to carry out the assisted dying procedures. Analysis suggests that implementation of assisted dying may cost the health service close to half a billion pounds within a decade, with each death costing the taxpayer more than £15,000.
Assisted dying is set to be legalised in England and Wales after a historic vote saw it voted through by a majority of 23 MPs.
However, Wes Streeting – who voted against the Bill – is understood to be deeply concerned about the impact it might have on an overstretched NHS.
Speaking ahead of the vote, he warned: 'There isn't money allocated to set up the service in the Bill', while stressing that the Government would respect the decision of the House.
Previously, he had warned there would be 'choices and trade-offs' to make, saying 'any new service comes at the expense of other competing pressures and priorities'.
Last week, the Health Secretary said the NHS was 'in a fight for its life' as he described his mission to turn the service around.
A number of MPs who opposed the Bill have raised concerns that assisted dying could take resources away from patients.
On Tuesday, Dame Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP who voted against the legislation, said it could become 'the Trojan horse that breaks the NHS', saying it would 'rob our stretched NHS of much-needed resources'.
The impact assessment of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill estimates that up to 28,317 people will die by state assisted suicide within the first 10 years of rollout.
This rises from 647 in year one to more than 4,500 by 2038, and could mean costs of £429 million for the NHS over the decade.
The spending includes educating all health and social care staff, training the doctors and nurses involved in the assisted dying service, setting up a regulator, as well as the costs of the lethal drugs themselves.
Training staff is set to be the biggest cost – especially as the service is created.
This could cost up to £35.5 million in the first year if all involved got the highest level of training available with no one opting out. There would then be recurring annual costs of between £10-22 million.
Staff costs could reach £72 million over 10 years, with up to seven staff working for 32 hours per assisted death, it concludes.
None of the calculations include the lost productivity and knock-on effects of the work the doctors are no longer able to carry out as a result.
The impact assessment puts the cost of the drugs required at around £15 per person. However, independent experts have said it is highly likely to cost more.
The Government also predicts a regulator and panel to assess cases would cost up to £13.6 million every year to run.
The assessment suggests that overall, the Government could save money as a result of the earlier deaths, with overall savings of more than £640 million. Some of these savings could be made by the NHS.
By 2038, health services could save up to £71.5 million a year on end-of-life care, because of the savings from not providing costly hospital care for cancer.
Assisted dying is now on course to be available by 2029. Adults with a terminal illness and less than six months to live will be eligible under the new law.
The law passed despite widespread opposition, with opponents raising concerns over the dropping of a requirement for a High Court judge to sign off on all assisted dying cases.
Critics also warned that the law would 'normalise the choice of death over life, care, respect and love'.
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